How economic volatility will impact US labels’ fandom monetisation push

It has been an eventful few weeks for the global economy, to put it mildly. Since President Trump’s initial announcement calling for a universal baseline tariff on foreign imports to the US at the beginning of this month, global financial markets have been in flux, affecting nearly every sector from car manufacturing to electronics. Although Trump has temporarily suspended new tariff rates for most US trade partners, significant tariffs remain in place for China, and an environment of global economic volatility appears to be here to stay. As major Western labels go full steam ahead with fandom monetisation, there may be rising concerns around how the current economic situation will affect this strategy.

Streaming subscriptions may not suffer, but “luxuries” like merchandise, tickets, and vinyl might

Digital streaming subscriptions themselves are obviously unaffected by tariffs, but there may be fears that tariffs will lead consumers to cut costs overall – which may end up impacting subscriptions. Even so, subscriptions are likely to escape relatively unscathed. Streaming subscriber growth has not lost momentum in the 2020s – even throughout the pandemic. When MIDiA asked consumers in 2020 how they would change their entertainment spend if forced to reduce it due to global events, 18% answered that they would cancel a paid music subscription – an opinion that remained the same when asked again in 2022. While 18% would still prove damaging if true, it is far from a majority, and survey respondents tend to overreport.

However, consumers’ overall attitude towards spending money has changed post-pandemic; while 33% of consumers in 2020 said they would not change their entertainment spending at all due to global events, only 21% answered the same in 2022 (source: MIDiA Research Consumer Survey, Q2 2020 and Q1 2022). The shift towards less entertainment spending has continued into 2025 as well, with a February McKinsey consumer survey showing that 33% of consumers expected to spend less on entertainment away from home in the next three months and 22% expected to spend less on at-home entertainment.

This consumer frugality will only become more pronounced should the tariffs be reinstated, which may spell trouble for fandom indulgences, especially vinyl records and merchandise. The majority of vinyl manufacturers rely on foreign supplies and will face higher wholesale prices due to the tariffs; these additional manufacturing costs will likely be passed on to the consumer. Merchandise prices will be affected regardless of whether global tariffs resume, since, as Billboard outlines in more detail, many merch sellers import goods from China, which has been hit with a 145% tariff that is still in effect at the time of writing. Merch sellers must now either face higher costs and supply chain delays with Chinese goods due to new customs clearance protocol or choose to switch to a different manufacturing country that may raise prices due to newly-increased demand. Regardless of exactly how the tariff situation resolves after the 90-day pause, the music industry – which is growing ever more reliant on “expanded rights” such as merch – must find a way to adjust to this new period of uncertainty.

So, how does the music industry move forward?

The good news is that fandom monetisation no longer only means physical merchandise. Since digital subscriptions will likely face little negative impact, streaming services’ move toward “super premium” tiers are one strong path forward. Based on MIDiA’s streaming pricing strategy report, consumers are willing to pay for super premium streaming if it offers them a better experience, with 74% of subscribers (or those on a shared plan) surveyed indicating that they would be interested in paying a fee for “supremium” access on top of their existing subscription price (source: MIDiA Research Artist Tracker and Pricing Survey, Q3 2024).

While there is still a while until “supremium” becomes a mainstay among streaming services, there is hope that it may right the fandom monetisation ship amid choppy financial waters. Still, this new age of uncertainty may force US labels to re-evaluate their fandom strategy – and that might not be a bad thing. Monetising fandom by squeezing as much revenue out of fans as quickly as possible may lead to short-term financial gains. However, at a time when fans (be they “super” or otherwise) are putting extra spending on hold, nurturing fandom and creating a sustainable, long-term strategy that is not wholly reliant on those who are willing to spend the most will be what keeps the superfan movement afloat in uncertain times, now and in the future.