Tim Burgess announces 2025 Merch Market in Manchester: “No commission – 100 per cent for the bands”

“The Merch Market is a chance for bands and solo artists to check what’s stashed in their rehearsal room, languishing in storage or hiding under the bed – and it’s also the opportunity to make some limited run items, only available at The Merch Market,” he said.

“Stalls are free, no commission taken, 100 per cent of the income can be kept by the bands.”

Burgess added: “We’ve been working with the folks at Print Manchester on some cutting-edge merch printing on the spot – can’t wait for everyone to see what we’ve been up to.”

The market is scheduled to take place on Sunday May 25 and entry is free. It’ll run from 11am until late that night, but times are expected to vary across each venue.

Participating venues the O2 Ritz, Gorilla and Dog Bowl – which are all within a one-minute walk of each other – will feature stalls, live performances, DJ sets, on-stage interviews and panels.

Additionally, organisers have promised “a whole host of big names and surprises” for the inaugural Merch Market. What’s more, customers have the chance to win some rarities, signed vinyl test pressings and VIP tickets for Kendal Calling 2025 (the home of Burgess’ Tim Peaks Diner stage).

Artists and manufacturers who are interested in getting involved with the Merch Market can sign up to request a stall. You can do so via the Help Us Help Bands website.

In 2021, Burgess spoke out about venues that took an unfair cut of merch sales, saying: “The whole system needs addressing.”

He explained at the time: “This isn’t about The Charlatans. It’s about those bands who need merch income to survive. Some places take 25 per cent. A quarter of the full selling price. Vinyl doesn’t even have that markup to begin with.”

Later, it was confirmed that 400 venues had agreed not to take a cut of artists’ merch proceeds by joining the ‘100% Venues’ database. However, many venues are still not signed up to the scheme.

Speaking to NME in 2022, Burgess said the issue was “about fairness” rather than “money”. “Often at Charlatans gigs, our fans smash the record for the bar take at a venue,” he commented.

“When I first tweeted about merch commission, Warren Ellis from The Bad Seeds replied [saying] that we could maybe ask the venues for a percentage of the bar take. It’s no more unreasonable than them taxing the merch.”

This came after Nottingham’s Rock City waived its traditional cut of merch sales at The Charlatans’ show at the venue, in response to Burgess’ campaigning.

Many other artists have spoken out about the practice of performance spaces taking a portion of merch proceeds. Architects called on bands to “go on strike” in protest, while the likes of Yard Act and The Big Moon launched their own pop-up stores on tour. Elsewhere, Tomberlin called out a venue after it asked for a 41 per cent cut of her merch sales.

The issue extends to the US as well. In 2023, Live Nation dropped merch cuts at all the venues it operates in the states as part of its ‘On The Road Again’ scheme. Jack Antonoff had previously told venues to “stop taxing” merch, saying that it was “literally the only way you make money when you start out touring”.

• READ MORE: Tim Burgess – ‘Typical Music’ review: ambitious, if messy, adventures in sound

Early last year, Blur‘s Dave Rowntree was among the artists to speak to NME about challenges within the industry and what needed to change. “We need to make the label-centric model work more equitably for artists and prevent venues from taking an outrageous share of our merchandise revenue,” the drummer said.

Burgess’ first Vinyl Adventures record fair took place in Manchester in December 2021 as part of the Independent Label Market.

In other news, The Charlatans are due to release a special vinyl picture disc of ‘The Only One I Know’ for Record Store Day 2025 – which takes place on Saturday April 12.

The band will headline Castlefield Bowl in Manchester as part of the Sounds Of The City series this July, with Embrace and The Coral supporting. The Charlatans are also set to open for Manic Street Preachers at a huge outdoor show in Essex. Find any remaining tickets here.