Shopify to help bands merch-ify their Spotify

Long-plagued by name confusion, especially in Twitter mentions, Canada’s Shopify and streaming service Spotify are teaming up to mix music and entrepreneurship.

Announced Wednesday, artists on Spotify can now connect their Shopify store to show off their merch and music right on their Spotify profile.

“Thousands of artists already choose Shopify as their commerce platform, and now we’re bringing fans and artists even closer together with the launch of the Spotify channel,” said Amir Kabbara, director of product at Shopify.

“Artists today are entrepreneurial,” he added. “They’re building multifaceted brands and businesses, and now we’re making it easier for them to meet fans where they are. By bringing entrepreneurship to Spotify, we’re empowering artists to think beyond the traditional merch table with new ways to monetize, and to experiment with their brands through commerce.”

i know this was the collab of the decade y’all were looking for and tbh this integration will give artists everywhere more opportunity than ever to build their brands and connect with their fans. and we love this for them.https://t.co/7hn1O3NxI0

— Shopify (@Shopify) October 20, 2021

The Shopify channel is currently available to artists in all markets where Spotify is available, and available to listeners in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

According to Shopify, the creator economy is estimated to encompass approximately 50 million people and is said to be worth over $100 billion. The partnership with Spotify increases the e-commerce giant’s ability to work with artist entrepreneurs and also heats up its competition with Amazon. Earlier this year, Amazon integrated merchandise into Amazon Music, the company’s music streaming app.

Shopify competes against Amazon for merchants on their respective platforms, and, in recent years, has been expanding into verticals that more closely mirror Amazon. Recently, Shopify reportedly beat Amazon in online traffic, with 1.16 billion average monthly unique visitors during the three months ending in June, compared to 1.10 billion for Amazon.

Shopify has also prioritized warehouse fulfillment, social media partnerships, intellectual property, and business banking. The competition has been so heated that Business Insider and The Wall Street Journal, have reported Amazon created an internal task force last year to “go after Shopify’s core small-business merchants.”