INCREASING REVENUE

Rough Merchandise and Asset Sketches for Mockups

Final model of the MADMANZ March Vision Board.

Being an up-and-coming brand from a small label, money is often tight. This is true for Madison’s band as well. Many of the design solutions had to come with a budget and simple solutions that could be hand-made by some of the crew rather than mass-produced. A method to increase revenue for the brand was necessary, and branding was the best way to do it. While the social media, style guide, and concert itself could drive significant revenue, the fastest way to gain funds was to sell merchandise to the audience. Many brands do this, even up-and-coming groups, and it seemed prudent – but for this design solution to be effective, it had to be taken a step further than most bands were willing to take it.

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A successful method of concert t-shirt design is to incorporate album art into a wearable design – this is a method of ensuring a die-hard fan might purchase new merchandise with each album release. One of many examples of this is Five Finger Death Punch’s Got Your Six album, whose art was compelling enough to draw in new fans (Five Finger Death Punch, 2015). The way they incorporated the album is not just aesthetically appealing but is designed in a way that makes the wearer feel confident by displaying the powerful album art and the compelling album title, a call to actionable defense itself (NewVintageNY, 2024).

The success of this t-shirt sale, with its incorporation of the album art (which in and itself was a driving marketable factor), made Got Your Six’s merchandise sales successful – and following this example would likely lead to success for the MADMANZ March.

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Not only was it decided that several merchandise items would be more customizable (such as the t-shirts and bandanas, which come in several options for fabric and print pattern), but unorthodox merchandise would also be sold. While rarer to see being sold, items such as jewelry, water bottles, bandanas, and guitar picks have proven to be successful sellers at concerts – including these items at the merchandise booth would not only differentiate Madison from other bands’ merch stands but increase revenue with these unique choices (Ķempele, 2023). However, still, this idea alone was not enough – it could be built upon to be something more.

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Ticket packages are not for simple casual fans – or at least, they might not be advertised as such. These packages were designed with ingrained fans in mind, or with large groups of concertgoers in mind. It has proven that the selling of ticket packages has not just increased revenue for the bands that utilize them, as audiences generally find ticket packages a better deal for their benefit (N., 2024). Specifically, the VIP and large group ticket packages tend to be the most successful – seats can be booked in advance for a guarantee of experience quality and the deals can be cheaper for the audience than buying each item individually.

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The inclusion of merchandise – both big ticket items and exclusive smaller items - in these packages adds to the appeal and inevitably leads to an increase in revenue.

PRO DEVELOPMENT

As the band goes into its first concert tour, beginning to grow, so too must its professional outreach and strategy.

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The development of a letterhead and business cards, as well as the style guide made the MADMANZ Tour approachable from a professional outsider perspective. It gave possible investors a sense that the band was organized and capable of professional business interactions. However, professionalism is not as simple as a nice letterhead package. Neither is the music industry.

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Success in the music industry cannot be measured by a single metric alone – multiple metrics and modes must be considered in tandem to ascertain their true success. However, the easiest way to determine success in the music industry is through social impact metrics – plays on Spotify, likes on Instagram, the list goes on – thus, will be the most successful way to measure MADMANZ’s success (Huang, 2019). The band’s social media behavior and aesthetics were simple modifications – ones made with informed intent based on leading tips and tricks for social media engagement and audience development (As explained in the Research section) (Keyes, 2022). Alternatively, other sources were not as easy to change.

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However, there were hurdles in garnering social engagement via platforms such as Spotify. In the new digital age, streaming platforms such as these are key in a musician’s professional development, making it an essential factor to consider in a brand’s strategy (Pizzolitto, 2023). It is no secret that platforms such as Spotify appeal more to large-name bands and record labels, making it difficult for smaller artists like Mandy Madison to be discovered by new listeners – this could require a change in the band’s pre-existing strategy (Allen, 2018). Recently, a metal group from Panama was able to bypass this quirk in Spotify’s build by expanding past their typical Southern American audience, drawing in a larger audience and therefore adding the band’s material to a larger algorithm for the app’s coding to pull from (CE Noticias Financieras, 2024). This method of bypass would work wonderfully for Madison, especially with the idea that the band will one day grow beyond its current United States Audience.

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Mandy Madison has already, in a way, expanded past their “target demographic” with their efforts involving charities and causes in every location they visit, drawing those in who might not have typically claimed appreciation for their genre originally. Similarly, their effort to dedicate a portion of proceeds to various causes has given them a sort of “champion status” to some of these organizations, making their music a representation of the organization (building brand recognition while simultaneously gaining an audience and community trust).