Spotify enhances merchandising push for artists

Selling music seems to be a lucrative business these days, at least judging from all of the streaming services flooding the market. So how does one manage to differentiate itself and set things apart from rivals like Rdio and Google?

Apparently, for Spotify, this means moving into the merchandise business -- a rather lucrative one, given the price of concert tee shirts at shows, though Spotify doesn't plan to profit from this endeavor.

The service aims to allow the artist to sell directly to fans, stating it wishes the fans "to support the people whose music fills your days". These offers will appear on the artist page of each band or individual who chooses to participate.

The service is not new, it was launched last year, but this takes things up a notch. The company is introducing BandPage, an area where each artist can set up merchandise to offer the fans. Spotify also pledges only the artist will get the proceeds and the streaming service will take no cut of the profit.

For interested parties, Spotify states "if you’re an artist who wants to start selling merch and experiences through Spotify, check out our artist blog".