From “Throw Fits” to “Crime Junkie”, Podcast Merch has become a big deal

The podcast business, in particular, is growing as more listeners want to show their faith in their favorite podcast through a T-shirt, mug, or hoodie. Marisa Morales, head of merchandising at Stitcher, a podcast conglomerate, said sales of goods associated with Stitcher shows such as “WTF with Marc Maron”, “Sklarbro Country” and “Freakonomics Radio” are doubling about every year. She compared the excitement surrounding, say, a recently released mug from “The Office Ladies,” a podcast about the past sitcom, to the frantic exaggeration surrounding the launch of Air Jordan sneakers. Hundreds of cups of coffee can be sold in a few hours.

This fervent commodity market has no parallels in traditional media. Newspapers and periodicals still sweeten subscription offerings with gifts – many of us have New York shopping bags lingering in our closets or holding that “ESPN the Magazine” wool that was heavily advertised on TV during the big times. But podcasts work as an independent phenomenon that sees listeners drop $ 30 just for a T-shirt or $ 60 for a sweatshirt. As Ms. Morales said, merch appeals because it makes a listener’s connection to a podcast tangible.

In this sense, the closest cousin to the merch podcast is the band t-shirts. Dita Cordelia, 24, an independent video producer and dedicated podcast listener in Los Angeles, likened her Scriptnotes shirt – denoting her devotion to a weekly podcast on screen – to the Morrissey T-shirt she wore in high school. In both cases, she said, the shirts send a privileged message (some would say hipster) “Oh, you don’t know about that … you have to listen to that.”

And, like concert t-shirts, podcast equipment allows listeners to return to their favorite sources of entertainment. “Support something I’m interested in,” said 40-year-old Corey Long, a contract coordinator at a university in Atlanta, who recently purchased a shirt from the upcoming “How Long Gone” podcast. two older brothers of the millennia. (In the case of larger mammoth shows, commercials, not merch, usually keep the microphones.) Mr. Long admits that, unlike buying concert shirts while surrounded by a swarm of fellow fans, buying the podcast merch is not is not a “common experience”. You are alone at home, listening in isolation.

The privacy bubble is essential for a podcast call. Ms. Cordelia of Los Angeles said that last year she started listening to podcasts instead of radio to stay calm while commuting. The podcasts, she said, “made me want to listen to my friends having an easy conversation compared to Ryan Seacrest who told me at eight in the morning to listen to this rap song.” This intimacy offers an escapism that some listeners have especially enjoyed in the frantic last year. Saying that last holiday season, Mrs. Cordelia and her friends bought each other podcast shirts, rather than band shirts as in the past – reflecting their changing listening habits.

When it comes to the design printed on a podcast shirt, “the more jokingly, the better,” said Ms. Morales of Stitcher, whose sales site Podswag.com allows you to buy tees. words that say “Cheese Side Down” or “Don’t be an irony”. Only listeners who download “The Sporkful” or “The Murder Squad” will really giggle at these shirts.

The T-shirt Mr. Long bought from the “How Long Gone” riffs on the cover of an obscure punk album. The shirt’s painful niche reference helped him identify with the show’s hosts: “The podcast is about two hardcore punk boys. And I’m an aged hardcore punk guy. “So far, none of his friends have taken the shirt reference.

Promoting a community through merchandise is certainly one of the show’s goals. “We want to build the ‘How Long Gone’ universe,” said co-host Chris Black. After launching several t-shirts and reference drums, he and fellow host Jason Stewart are partnering with Tinker, an Indianapolis coffee maker. to release a cold-preserved coffee, called “Mudd,” the term Mr. Black uses when discussing coffee on the show.

This caffeinated plan reflects how podcasts flourish into full-fledged life brands. “The Office Ladies” sells blankets, backpacks, frisbees and a stapler accordingly (get it, “The Office”). “The Last Podcast on the Left,” a crime comedy show, has launched a cruise bike now sold to Priority Bikes in New York. And “This Podcast Will Kill You,” which focuses locally on disease and epidemiological concerns, has sold its own signature soap.

Not all podcast customers merch even at the draw. Unbeknownst to a show, 38-year-old Dan Christansen, who works in marketing in Philadelphia, was recently hit with a bag he saw on Instagram on the New York basketball podcast “Cookies.” Hoops “. (An irascible parody of the classic New Yorker bag, the $ 35 bag shows Eustace Tilley spinning a basketball.) After making an instrument on the show’s website, Mr. Christansen bought a shirt with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. from the NBA caricatured as Beavis & Butthead and the phrase “Practice Sucks” on the front. Although the tee covers the topics covered in the show, Mr. Christansen considers it an “independent track” instead of a “badge” that indicates that he is listening to the podcast.

Some podcasts are even pushing their luxury market. In recent months, “Throwing Fits,” a one-year-old fashion podcast, has partnered with Italian shoe brand Diemme on Chelsea boots in olive green suede, worth $ 300, and the American shoe label Blackstock & Weber. on $ 295 loafers. Each of the shoe models sold “hundreds of pairs,” said co-host James Harris.

Alex Green, a 21-year-old student from Amherst, Massachusetts, was among those who bought Chelsea boots. Given his budget, the shoes were an investment, but he put his trust in the two hosts. “They’re great taste creators … They’re guys I turn to for fashion advice,” he said. “And there aren’t many people I turn to for fashion advice.”

For the hosts, choosing a tangible, luxury product to be sold certainly required more effort than just the barking of hot moments. The co-hosts wanted the listeners to “be happy with what they spent so hard on,” said Lawrence Schlossman, Mr Harris’ criminal partner. They considered various samples and tested the boots and moccasins for months before releasing them. This process changed “Throwing Fittings” from a simple merch operation into something that comes close to a private label garment. Mr Schlossman said: “When we are in weaker mode or in boot mode, I don’t feel like a bridge anymore. I feel like a brand. “

Write to Jacob Gallagher at [email protected]