The Business of Band Merchandise and Artist Branding

Jakob Wredstrøm

One thing that I've seen consistently makes a really, really good podcast is that it's very conversational. I can already feel from now that it's going to be that, but if I ask some questions that might lead you to having long-winded answers, it's much better to break them down. Even if I sort of maybe break like a longer point, it's better for the conversation of the listener if it can be back and forth. So try to sort of... Definitely don't keep your answers short, but just be aware that it doesn't go into monologues. Yeah. So that's really the only thing you need to remember. Besides that, there's just one way that we start the podcast, which is we do it the same way all the time. It's very simple is I do a super short introduction and then I ask you, who are you and what do you do? I like it. It's so I'm from Scandinavia and we're very like allergic to

Seamus Menihane

Certainly.

Seamus Menihane

Yeah.

Jakob Wredstrøm

introductions and like these... we like to set the scene a tiny bit different so I've had people on my podcast from very beginner entrepreneurs to almost as established as he gets and we tried to do the same way because it sets the scene at least that I'm comfortable with his very Scandinavian. Yeah and that's the thing and I try to when I can I try to go into the dark like you know what's the downsides what's the struggles what's the problems I think there was a Wi-Fi fallout now.

Seamus Menihane

Jacob, are you there?

Jakob Wredstrøm

You back?

Seamus Menihane

Sorry about that will be the last time that happens

Jakob Wredstrøm

No, it's all good. It's all good. The system is sort of basically made for it. So if you drop out during the interview as well, like you can handle it pretty well.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Okay, no problem. Great. I think, do you have any questions?

Seamus Menihane

No, I don't. I actually, just restarted my internet. So we should be good now. There shouldn't be any delay. But yeah, no questions. All of that sounds good. I'm ready to go whenever you are.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Perfect, great. So if there is a delay, if there's a lag if you fall out, the system handles it quite well. So it sort of can return to it. Have you tried reverb set before, by the way?

Seamus Menihane

Yeah, I've used this one other time.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Okay, so you know how it works. Great. Perfect. Just to be completely clear, so don't butcher it. I pronounce it Seamus, right? Seamus. Okay. From Amara, that's how you pronounce it as well.

Seamus Menihane

Yep. Yes, she is shaming him.

Seamus Menihane

Armada, yes.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Shamus. I'm actually not going to say your surname because I know I'm going to for sure going to fail on that.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Okay, great. Well, I will start in five seconds.

Seamus Menihane

Great, ready.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Sound Connections Podcast. Today we have Seamus on the podcast. Welcome.

Seamus Menihane

Hi, how's it going?

Jakob Wredstrøm

It's going well, man. I'm looking forward to this conversation. You're, well, you introduced yourself in two seconds, but you're doing something incredibly interesting within merch at Amada. And I was very happy to receive the email about getting you on the podcast because as I told you before we started, I actually don't know a lot about merchandise in the way that I've never really understood how the unit economics works and what the real benefits are really for the music economy. know obviously looking at statistics that it matters, but I'm really happy to dissect it today and talk about your founder journey and your company. But shame is for the people who don't know you, who you and. What do?

Seamus Menihane

Well, first off, Jacob, I appreciate you having me and I'm really happy to be discussing and being on the show today. My name is Seamus Minahan. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Armada. I have a background in playing in bands and previously before launching my own business, I was a musician. I was a touring musician for many years. So I have a background as an artist and a musician, a touring musician, and I've started this journey with building a merchandise company about eight years ago at this point. And yeah, it's been a really fun and incredible journey over the past eight years, learning the ways of, you know, startup, starting up a business, building a team, working in the music industry, coming from the side of being an artist to now having a business and providing services to artists and working and partnering with artists. It's really been an incredible journey learning from the start to finish on how best to partner and serve bands and other brands in the space.

Jakob Wredstrøm

I get to talk with lot of founders on the podcast and it's actually not very often I see this very clear transition from being a musician to being a founder. Oftentimes that, you know, being a founder often comes from either like outside the industry or from a maybe business pursuit early on in life or like very clear entrepreneurial path, but rarely from musician to entrepreneur. you briefly just tell me like, how did that actually happen? How did you transition into starting your own company?

Seamus Menihane

I always thought that I was going to be a full-time touring musician forever. And that's kind of the only thing that I knew for many, many years. And I absolutely loved, and I still do, I love playing and I love creating music, but I really loved the touring and the performance side of it. I loved the traveling. I loved being out on the road. And that's really what I thought my career was going to be forever. When I would come home from tour, I would work at screen printing shops. So that was kind of like my home base job. When I wasn't on the road, I would come back and I would print shirts and I would do kind of all like the grunt work at a screen printing shop, a local shop. And I was always interested on the merchandise side of it and the merchandise aspect of the business. When I was playing in bands, I was really only seeing like the screen printing and the production side of it. But as my bands started to Grow and I started playing with bigger acts I started to learn more about the brand the brand side of it and the brand building side of it and not just the manufacturing of the merchandise but the idea of building a brand through the through merchandise So that point Really becoming interested in that and being really interested in the e-commerce side of the business as well. I took a step back from playing and

Jakob Wredstrøm

Hmm.

Seamus Menihane

and kind of reevaluated what I wanted my path to be and I really felt a pull to explore the industry side of it. And at that point I saw merchandise as kind of an open lane and something that I was very interested in and I saw kind of a gap in what we could build a company around to really be valuable for artists. I saw an opportunity with that. that was the kind of, was around 2017, 2018. and that's right around the time that I started at the time, Downright Merchandise. And it was all really informed from my previous journey as a musician and as a working artist, really informed the way that we built the company and we built the service offering that we provide artists now.

Jakob Wredstrøm

You sort of touch upon it with the brand building and such, if you could dissect for listener and for me, what is the function and benefits of merchandising?

Seamus Menihane

It is, it goes beyond just the manufacturing and the production side of it. And it really goes to investing in the, in the, in the brand and the physical product that represents your artistry. And I think that is really where we come in and we not only advise, but we provide real resources for artists to be able to do that. And it starts with the product development and the ideation of the product and real building a brand that represents the artist's vision and ties in with their music, right? And I think that we're in an interesting position where we're really creating like the only physical, tangible element of an artist's brand, right? And I feel like we're able to do that by fully understanding their vision. And I think that's kind of the essence of what we provide artists and kind of what it means to build their brands. like we have to understand their vision and we have to understand what motivates them as artists in order to properly partner with them and represent it through great merchandise.

Jakob Wredstrøm

The last thing I read, know, Amara now, which is a merger between two companies, you're 170 employees in the company. there's obviously beyond. branding for the OZSYS, there's also economics, both for you as a company and for OZSYS as well. Just to of understand the economics of merchandise, can you maybe break that down for me? Like what's your usual in the case that an OZSYS would get some profits from it, or is it directly just investment into the brand and sort of the relationship, or for the OZSYS, what is it that they could get financially from having a successful merch part of their business?

Seamus Menihane

Well, a lot of the products and services that we offer are really commission based and that's really applicable to the e-commerce side of our business. So the normal shape of the deals that we put together for artists is always based on a commission split on sales. So that's really a foundational element to the deal structure. As we come in and we participate in a revenue split with our artists and that also aligns us where now it's in our both of our best interests to try to optimize results. that's really the function of our e-commerce side of our business is being able to develop products and guide them in a way that's going to optimize sales because we both effectively stand to benefit from that.

Jakob Wredstrøm

makes sense.

Seamus Menihane

On the tour side of it, it's kind of a similar structure, though we're not traditionally taking a percentage of the artist's sales. We are providing them with all of the product in bulk, typically we're doing supply deals for our artists where we're printing and actively managing the amount of inventory that is sold on the road or that we're producing for them to sell on the road. So that aspect of the business is far more driven by logistics. ensuring that the amount of product that we're printing is accurate and that the product actually lands where it needs to be at the end of the day and the artists aren't running out of merchandise halfway through a tour and if they do sell way more than we projected we're able to get them an adequate amount of product and restocking the product to make sure that they have that they have merch to sell at the shows so that's more on the logistics and more on the production logistics side of the business Ultimately, the tour merchandise is really one of the most profitable areas of an artist's business. That's really where they stand to make the most is those direct sales on the road. So it's really important that we come to the table and kind of provide the framework of a logistic setup to make sure that we're always delivering and we're on time and that we're optimizing the potential for tour sales.

Jakob Wredstrøm

And one thing I'm curious about, again, you know, having a independent company grow 270 employees in music is no small feat. So I need to understand. So from you saying, okay, I might want to pursue the business side and sort of abandoning the full pursuit towards being a musician. What was it that happened there? Like, how did you progress into that?

Seamus Menihane

mean, it was definitely a slow grind and it did not happen overnight. I think that the biggest learning curve for that part of scaling and building a team is really figuring out how to properly delegate and how to build departments and how to make it so it's not just a handful of people kind of doing everything. That was the biggest learning curve, feel like, throughout my journey at least, is figuring out how to properly delegate and especially coming from the early days where, like most companies, was kind of like me doing a little bit of everything. That was the biggest learning curve. And also the most valuable thing that I feel like I've learned throughout the journey is the ability to properly delegate and feel comfortable with letting go. And once that, once that those, those principles were kind of adopted into the way that I work, I feel like it was a lot easier to build a team off of that foundation. but it's, it's kind of, it's a lot of it is rooted in trust. and making sure that you trust the team and that you trust that the people that are responsible for their tasks, that everybody is working in unison and going in the same direction. But learning how to delegate and being comfortable with that was definitely a crucial part in scaling from one to 10 to 50 to now, yeah, close to 200 employees.

Jakob Wredstrøm

I would not claim myself to be a musician, but I've definitely been around musicians a lot, especially early in my career. And the way that you're speaking now, the words that you use are very non-musician for me and sort of my association to what it means to be a musician. Have you always been this level-headed in your pursuit or has that something you've sort of been training?

Seamus Menihane

I would say, I'll definitely take that as a compliment, which I appreciate. I don't know if level-headed, I feel like I've always been interested in business. I've always kind of had an entrepreneurial spirit. Always, even when I was playing in bands, always figured out little side gigs when I was home from tour. that's a big part of what drew me to

Jakob Wredstrøm

Thank you.

Seamus Menihane

being a working musician is that's completely tied in with entrepreneurship, right? Looking for gigs, even being, making a band, like a lot of that is very tied in and very similar to the entrepreneurial journey. So I think a lot of that was kind of ingrained in how I approached my music career as well. So taking that and kind of transposing that to a startup, I think a lot of that was very natural, but you pick up things along the way and I think that you know in terms of communication and being able to build teams, know, it's The communication side of it is the most important skill I feel like once you scale past 25 employees because it's no longer talking to individuals It's trying to communicate things effectively to a group of people and I think that those skills and trying to trying to hone in on the ability

Jakob Wredstrøm

What has been the most difficult shift in mentality between being a tour musician and then being an entrepreneur with employees?

Seamus Menihane

what's been the biggest challenge?

Jakob Wredstrøm

Hmm.

Seamus Menihane

I think there is an inherent freedom with being a touring musician and I think that there is a lot more accountability with having a company with a lot of people and just running a team and making a business there's a lot more accountability to people that are not just you. Know, like having the feeling of being responsible for employees, for clients, for vendors, everybody that's within your business's ecosystem is a lot. And adapting from just being solely focused on your musical output and your band to now feeling like you have an ecosystem of people that are participating in your vision is the biggest difference. Especially from the type of bands that I was in,

Jakob Wredstrøm

Hmm.

Seamus Menihane

It wasn't like we were big and we had all these people working for us. They were small DIY in essence type of bands. So I feel like having more people that are reliant on your decisions and ultimately follow your guidance and leadership I think is the biggest change from my career as a musician playing in bands to what I'm doing now.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Hmm. Makes sense. I'm curious when I was sort of preparing for this interview, one of the things, one of the questions I had was, the discussion between independent versus major. And obviously that exists across the whole value chain music. Um, but one thing I didn't really quite understand is what that actually means for merchandise. Uh, because, you know, I know the live industry to, to a big degree, and I know it's a, it's a very complex. Mixture of many different interests and products and sales and also a lot of things people wouldn't think about when they think about the live industry. But what is the power dynamics and conflict between the big majorly owned merchandising offerings and independents like yours? What's the difference?

Seamus Menihane

I think ownership of the product and ultimately the artist having control over their brand at the end of the day is a big component of our business in the way that we structure our deals. I think that a lot of the things that we're doing, a lot of the communication with bands and a lot of the services that we offer, they're dependent on communicating with artists and really having them be involved in their business. And I feel like a big shift that I see from the way that we do it, as opposed to the way that I know a lot of the bigger businesses, major labels, of structured deals, is that the artist really retains a lot of control in the type of fields that we're presenting. And it's not really like signing away blanket rights for your brand, for a company to kind of do whatever you know whatever they want with it I feel like there's a lot more checks and balances in the way that our business is structured that's probably the biggest the biggest point of difference in the way that our partnerships are laid out as opposed to the way that it would work maybe on a major you know with a major label type arrangement where you know they may be coming in with a big upfront check but there's a lot of checks and balances that kind of go out the window and you're kind of just assigning freedom to a lot of the bigger companies to do as they please. So I think the way that we approach it from an independent perspective where we are fostering more of an essence of partnership with our clients, I think that just leads for a little more hands-on control that they can establish and can ultimately participate in the growth of their brand as well and feel like they have a little more control. Which we've received a lot of positive feedback that's what a lot of artists are looking for. They want to remain in control of their brand and not just sign it away and kind of leave it at the behest of another company.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Hmm. Because I can only assume that the merger between your original company, Downright Merch, and Overcast Merch, now is into Amata, was also for the purpose of being strong together in that whole ecosystem or choice of different players and deals. What was the reason why you did that merger?

Seamus Menihane

I think that both of our strengths really complemented our ability to make a stronger service for artists. Think that what Downright Merch has always focused on was e-commerce first. We invested a lot into our actual fulfillment infrastructure and our warehousing and a lot of the 3PL and distribution areas of the business. Because we kind of came the business really came up throughout COVID, right? And we kind of rode the e-commerce boom from 2020 to 2022. I mean, it was really a sole focus on Ecom. Overcast had more of a production and manufacturing background and foundation to their business. And the two areas being able to have hands on oversight and control in two crucial areas of the business is really important to us. So I feel like that was really like the key thesis behind the merger was that there two areas of the business that are so important that we both have invested very heavily in and we feel like we both excel at and being able to put them together is really the outline of where we found the value in pursuing a merge together.

Jakob Wredstrøm

That can probably also be an interesting dynamic or change for founders and CEOs. There can only be one CEO in a new setup and you're also, I would assume, faced with compromise when you do such a partnership. How has that been for you?

Seamus Menihane

I feel like everybody figuring out what their strengths are in the business is the best way to make sure that when you do a merge like that, when it's really a merger of equals, making sure that everybody can isolate on their strengths and we can bring that together to create a stronger force. I think that was a big part of that. And also it's like, we have to check egos at the door. Motivated to build a great company and to grow and to make, you know, and really make our mark on the industry. And I think that sort of team environment is something that we kind of clicked into very naturally, especially all kind of being friends and being in a similar space in the industry. You know, I think it was a really great team-oriented combination and I think a lot of that and a lot of the work that we had do is figuring out like what are our strengths, what are the things that we come to work and we love doing every single day and how can we structure our leadership team to really play to all of our strengths and make us all feel very motivated that we have a clear path when we come to work every day. That was a very important and very thought out part of the deal.

Jakob Wredstrøm

I imagine when you have such a you know you need to cover so much area with tours and stuff you guys don't need to be placed the same place how you guys distributed location wise

Seamus Menihane

All over the place. Kind of all around North America. So we have some staff in Canada. We have our main two hubs are in Long Beach, California and Methuen, Massachusetts. So that's really where the majority of our staff are. But we have, like I said, a handful of employees in Canada, small group of employees in Nashville. And we're kind of scattered throughout the Midwest as well. But it's relatively easy. Technology has made it so it's very easy to communicate with each other now. And it's not like we have to wait. We're all on the same teams every single day. So it's very easy to keep a clear line of communication. And it's actually nice having people kind of scattered around because I feel like it gives us a much bigger footprint. And even like outside of the US, a small office in London, we have an office in Mexico City, so really just being able to have, kind of being able to cast a wide net has really been an important part of our growth strategy.

Jakob Wredstrøm

No, it's interesting and you can adapt a lot. I'm only 32, so when COVID happened, I was still really trying to figure out my career. Not saying that I've found it completely yet, but Amplitude Ventures that I run, we're a fairly decent sized team as well, around 80 people. Out of the 80 people, I've only met four of them in person. Life is just digital. Like my business partner, whoever I run the company with, he lives 15 kilometers from me. I only see him like twice a week. And normally he's at the office, which is literally like five minutes away, but I can't be bothered because I work better from home. So it's like, it's a fun world. Like it's really different from what used to be at least.

Seamus Menihane

I'm the exact opposite. I have to get out of the house every day at like 730. Like if I, and I've tried it, I've tried to be like, okay, today I'm gonna just try to, I have a home office set up. You know, I think I'm gonna be productive and I don't, I end up not wanting to work when I try to work from home. Yeah, I just, have to get out of the house first thing in the morning or my day is completely shot.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Really?

Jakob Wredstrøm

Yeah, okay. No, that's different and you know, that's beauty about the way they can be able to do differently. And for me also being a founder, that's one of the luxuries, being able to read and understand what you need and try to make a day out of that.

Seamus Menihane

But it works different for different people. Everybody's different with that. I mean, we have a ton of employees that work from home and it's never been easier to do it, right? And it's like, we're all using the same platforms. We're all in direct communication with each other all the time. So it's very reasonable and far more common now to run a company like that where they're...

Jakob Wredstrøm

Yeah.

Seamus Menihane

You know where it's a hybrid remote schedule that's just that's par for the course now

Jakob Wredstrøm

So what is the path that you guys are taking now? Like it's a pretty impressive size you've grown to and now you have both the digital side and the physical side with a lot of strength. Like where do see this going and what is the growth opportunities for you guys?

Seamus Menihane

We're going to continue investing in our international expansion and being able to offer the same quality services to artists outside of North America, being able to service tours in the UK, EU, Australia, Asia, Mexico, Mexico's. We really have a plan to offer the same level of service kind of worldwide. So that's kind of the biggest area that we're investing heavily in right now. Also our actual distribution and fulfillment infrastructure is another area that we're continuing to invest heavily in. Just building up our actual warehouse and the technology that we're using to get orders out the door faster, more accurately. That's another area that is ever-changing and that's a real focus area for myself. And also the production side, which is kind a similar mindset where there's always new equipment and there's new innovation in the decoration, the garment decoration industry. So making sure that we're staying current and that we're always investing in equipment, that's really the main areas of focus right now. So it's really our core business and I think that's important for us to not lose train of sight of what we feel like we're good at right now. So I feel like we're really focused on investing and making our core business better. That's really across the board in all key areas of what we do.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Hmm. As far as I understand, you guys have not taken on outside capital as you've come to the company, right? And you know, the purpose of getting investors which you don't have is of course for someone to receive a return of investment within a reasonable time period. What is your goal? Like, what do you want to take this? What's the sort of financial outcome that you think could be good to achieve?

Seamus Menihane

No, we haven't.

Seamus Menihane

I mean there's a lot of different... to the future that we can take. Feel like I think at the end of the day, we want to continue obviously growing in our core areas and our core business and also look for opportunities that can leverage our existing infrastructure to different areas of the business. Right? Like if we're focusing heavily on building up a fulfillment, our fulfillment side of the business, you know, maybe there's an opportunity to partner with another brand and actually have our own D2C store, our own D2C product that we can now layer on top of the infrastructure that we've built with our own fulfillment. Right? So I think that really establishing a strong infrastructure and foundation is really the way that we're going to continue growing and looking for potential &A opportunity down the line. But I feel like right now we would really be doing our business a disservice by trying to stray outside of the core areas that deliver value to clients. And it's tempting sometimes because like, especially as, as innovative entrepreneurs, you want to do everything. And it's really difficult to try to, you know, to put the blinders on sometime and say, this is our, these are our core strengths and we should, we should really focus on making them better and continuing to improve and not get sidetracked with other with other side quests that might be areas of growth and opportunity but may also present the risk of taking away from our ability to really excel and be terrific at one thing. So maybe that's kind of a long-winded answer but it's tough to look at what the future might hold when we just are very focused on being the best at what we currently offer clients right now and who knows where that will take the business in three to five

Seamus Menihane

Years. You know, I think we're early on in our career right now. If I were to say it's our goal to sell in three to five years, you know, I don't know. I feel like we're still early on and who knows what the future will hold for the business because I think there's a lot more to achieve with the current setup that we have right now.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Because I would also assume, I have read some statistics on it, I'm not sort of freshly reminded. The physical product, merchandise and music, I would assume is also on the rise when it to Spanish horror and the economy around it. So this is not something that's just, you know, was 20 years ago and then like this is something that's current and growing, right?

Seamus Menihane

I think we're riding the wave of that too. And I think we felt it the most during COVID. And I think that was really the jumping off point for downright merch at the time was the fact that we kind of rode the wave of that initial big econ boom in spring and summer of 2020. But yeah, looking at the metrics and the overall consumption of merchandise and the growth of e-commerce, I think that ties directly into our small little niche of music merchandise as well and they're tied directly to each other.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Maybe you afford yourself, Seamus, seven years ago, an advice. If you knew, well, if you wanted to let him know what he should do differently, what would that be?

Seamus Menihane

To my point earlier about staying focused on what you're good at, feel like staying focused on the mission and the company vision and not getting distracted with other side quests is the advice I would give myself seven years ago. Maybe not seven years ago, maybe like four to five years ago because I feel like once we kind of hit our initial growth spurt, we were really eager to continue, to continue growing. Continue expanding and I think we made a couple bets that were maybe outside of our core competencies and I think we would have been best served to keep our capital invested in the core areas of our business and again it's very it's very tempting it's very tempting to look at well maybe doing this deal might be a fast track to another area another you know, another area of the industry or another market that could fast track our growth. But I think that being focused on improving what you're currently doing is important. There's a... There's a really interesting book that I read called Good to Great by Jim Collins. And it's like the whole message behind the book is focusing on your core competencies and being great at the facets of the business that are most impactful and not straining from that. And I think that's actually an area where a lot of businesses fail, where they bite off more than they can chew and lose the core mission of the business. So that's probably the advice I would give myself. Three or four years ago but you know and there's other there's other things that looking back obviously there's a million things that we would have done differently and you know and mistakes that we've made throughout the throughout the way but I think to keep it at a high level and just you know just kind of big picture big picture advice I would say yes sticking to trying to improve what you're already what you're already good at

Jakob Wredstrøm

Hmm. It's such an interesting and timely thing to say. Was having a discussion with my business partner and then one of our partners in business today. And we talked about sort of ideas and this partner in business is also very much like me, like an innovator, like almost in venture type, which I've definitely fallen into that category myself. And we were reflecting upon the last, you know, five, 10 years of entrepreneurship. And I was reflecting about my friends. Early on in my life, I got some friends who were very much like myself, turned out to be entrepreneurs and some of them incredibly successful today. And I was reflecting upon one particular friend that I've always disagreed with because he's been this perfectionist, very focused person. Where like, for example, he was also a musician and when he was writing songs and producing albums, he was just taking like two years to make something finished. And I never understood it. I was always the opposite, like, you know, write a hundred songs and now reflecting back, you know, even I'm probably, you know, successful in my own right, looking at him and like, we had similar paths and he's now the CEO of probably the most successful company in his field. And like, we're still at the same age, the same path, like same opportunities. It's like, heck.

Seamus Menihane

Who's that?

Jakob Wredstrøm

Like it's still that focus can be so beautiful if you can have it. And that's still my struggle and will always be my struggle because I'm that type. But it's so interesting and something I'm trying to now adapt into my sort of career and leading my company is just like, I don't even know where to start to focus. And that's my struggle. But like there's so much good if you can find that. I'm still in the pursuit of it. Like what is it that actually the thing that she hone in on? But it's a journey.

Seamus Menihane

It's like a curse and a blessing, feel like, because if you have that creative instinct, a lot of that can really be beneficial in growing your business and your entrepreneurial pursuit. Yeah, sometimes you can get paralyzed by it too, because it's like the possibilities of what you can do are endless and you got to pick one thing to do. Right? You got to pick one thing. So it's, I definitely struggle with that myself. So yeah, it's just, and people just have different ways of approaching business.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Yeah.

Seamus Menihane

Is, you know, it's tough when you have a million things to do and a million different opportunities just honing in on one and really having conviction that it's the right bet. It's not easy.

Jakob Wredstrøm

No, it's not easy, but that's the path of entrepreneurship. Know, to a big degree, also what this podcast is about is sort of shining light of entrepreneurship within the music industry, because each niche has its nuance. And it's important to have both, both the entrepreneurial journey and the niche. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. It's, it's still difficult for me to understand. Merchandise, but I think it's also because I've never been the one to buy much merch. I think in all honesty, I think I've only bought one piece of merch my whole life. And it wasn't even merch, it was like a signed CD. So, but like that's the closest I have to it. But that does not sort of deduct any value to it. But what is it, what is it that you believe the people who buy merch, which I obviously don't fall into that category. Is getting a value from merchandising.

Seamus Menihane

I think that they're getting a direct connection to their artist through a tangible product. And I think that they also are eager to support their favorite artists by feeling like they're buying from them directly and that their dollars are going directly to their favorite band. And I think that they are in a lot of ways. Like the best way to support a band is really to go to the shows and to buy merch at their merch table. That has the biggest financial impact to artists in this day and age and it's only getting more and more important and artists are only getting more and more aware and attuned with the way that they can leverage that to really to really use it as like a foundational element of their business. So I feel like being able to foster that connection between fan and artist through great products that connect them closer and being able to lean into the fact that the

Jakob Wredstrøm

Mm.

Seamus Menihane

Fans want to support their artists. They want to feel like they're participating in their career directly. Being able to be the bridge and the connecting tissue to that is really the foundation of what Armada is. And I think that ultimately it's a very important aspect of the business for artists to be aware of. And at the end of the day, we just want to bring value to them. And we want to support them and we want to be involved in their careers and the longevity of them. (the part highlighted green above is the teaser. Afterwards, join this part highlighted yellow and make a snippet).

Jakob Wredstrøm

Sheemans, thank you so much for taking the time being on the podcast. I'm very, excited to follow your journey. And as sort of a founder in this space, and we work a lot with music companies, I try to follow what's happening in music. And I'll definitely be following you guys. Because again, it's still like a new field for me, like to understand fully. Congratulations and success so far, and hope you go as well. Thanks.

Seamus Menihane

Thank you very much. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. This was really fun and I appreciate you having me.

Jakob Wredstrøm

Amazing. Soon. Great. I'm just stopping the recording.