Coachella sets have been live-streamed for years, even before the pandemic. If you’re not able to make it out to the desert in California for the music festival, you can still watch your favorite artists perform.
Now, you can buy your favorite artists’ merchandise while you’re watching the stream on YouTube.
Social media and video platforms have been figuring out the new ways for fans to purchase music merchandise for a while now, integrating e-commerce options into the platforms for seamless shopping between streams.
With livestreams more popular and normalized than ever now, buying concert merchandise without technically attending the concert makes sense.
YouTube Shopping debuted in 2020, mostly as a way for streamers and content creators to hawk their own merchandise to viewers. But, as livestream concerts have gained popularity, it creates new ways for artists to sell their stuff beyond the traditional merchandise booth at the concert venue or festival.
“We’re always trying to deepen the roots [with] fans and artists and one of the best ways that you could do it is through merchandise,” Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, said, according to IQ. “The whole idea of exclusive merch drops is just so fans and artists could have more intersections together.”
That’s right, this one also plays into the exclusivity factor that so many streetwear designers and artists love so much. Nothing drives hype and demand like exclusivity.
The merchandise will also be available on site in Indio, but for those who wanted to go just to get a T-shirt that proves they went, things just got a lot easier.
