Spotify rolls out dedicated in-app ‘Merch Hub’

As Spotify said, the new merch hub shall “make it easier than ever to access all artist merch in one place” allowing users to avoid “having to browse artist by artist”. Although merch is still available through individual artist profiles, fans can now search for products through the newly developed hub, grouping together physical items from various artists.

However, as explained by the streaming giant, the merch hub doesn’t show just any merch products available. Instead, it provides “personalized merch recommendations” based on one’s listening habits and thus one’s favorit artists. As of now, it doesn’t seem possible for users to browse the Merch Hub like they would with a traditional online store.

In fact, right now, the Merch Hub is not even available through the Spotify app — you can only access it through the Merch tile on the Browse page. What you get is a list of artists you listen to a lot and the merch items they offer. You can click on the available items to learn more and then purchase them directly through the artist's Spotify store.

The release of Merch Hubahead of Wrapped 2023 is not that surprising. According to Spotify’s data, the week that followed Spotify Wrapped last year was the “highest-grossing merch sales week for artists in Spotify history”. This news also comes two months after Amazon Music rolled out integrated merch for about 600,000 musicians in collaboration with Bandsintown.

While Spotify isn’t, by far, the only streaming service to continuously enhance its merchandise offerings, the introduction of Merch Hub looks like it’s just the beginning for Spotify in the ‘who-sells-merch-better’ battle. Allegedly, more is yet to come for merch for this year’s famous Wrapped. We will have to wait to see what exactly is in the plan.