Spotify partners with ecommerce platform Shopify

The deal will allow artists to link their Spotify profiles with their Shopify stores and feature three items on Spotify. The service is now available to artists globally, but the merch can only be viewed by listeners in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US, and the UK, at the moment.

As part of the deal, Shopify will offer Spotify artists who sign up for the first time a 90-day free trial of its service.

“We want to provide artists with as many resources as possible to help turn listeners into fans, fans into superfans and, ultimately, help artists earn more,” Spotify for Artists head Camille Hearst said. “The integration of Shopify’s powerful backend for powering commerce presents a significant step forward in our efforts to help artists maximise additional revenue streams and give them agency over their careers.”

The news follows Spotify’s announcement earlier this year that it would focus on bolstering tickets and merch service to artists, claiming about 370 000 artists had featured tickets or merch on their profiles.

“Looking ahead we’re going to focus on powering that revenue stream too”, Spotify’s chief content and advertising business officer, Dawn Ostroff said.

Spotify first made a foray into merchandise by partnering with D2C company Topspin in 2003, before Apple-owned Beats Music bought the company. In 2016, Spotify entered a similar deal with Merchbar, which features the largest range of artist gear on the internet, to display artists’ merchandise on Spotify. The new deal is available in five countries, while Merchbar is expected to continue in all the other countries.

Shopify is a subscription-based tool that allows users to create an online store and sell their products. The platform also allows Shopify merchants with both an online and physical presence to sync their inventory and stock and manage it from one account on any device.