Streaming pays cents. Bandcamp takes 15%. Shopify wants $39 a month plus per-transaction fees. Bandzoogle charges a flat subscription and 0% on sales. Here's the exact playbook to set up a direct-to-fan store this weekend.
01The math that decides everything
A $10 album sale, four ways:
| Platform | Platform cut | Monthly overhead | You keep on $10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bandcamp digital | 15% | $0 | $8.50 before processor fees |
| Shopify Basic | 2.9% + $0.30 | $39 | Break-even around 44 sales/month |
| Squarespace Commerce | 3% (Business plan) + processor | $33 | Below Bandzoogle at every volume |
| Bandzoogle Standard | 0% platform fee | $14.16 | $9.41 — just Stripe/PayPal processing |
Sell $1,000 a month in music and merch and the difference between Bandzoogle and Bandcamp is roughly $130 a month. Over a year, that's an extra $1,500 back in your pocket. This is the entire pitch, and the rest of this guide assumes you've decided the math matters.
02Step 1: Pick your plan
Lite — $9.16/mo annual
Sell music downloads only. Good for a solo artist with a small catalogue testing the model.
Standard — $14.16/mo annual
Sell music and physical merch. Where most working artists start, and the plan that covers the whole playbook below except tickets and pre-orders.
Pro — $18.33/mo annual
Unlimited catalogue, ticket sales, pre-orders on physical products, tip jars, advanced analytics, branding removal.
Merch Table Pro — $20.79/mo annual
Storefront-only, if you already have a website elsewhere and want a commission-free store.
The 14-day free trial doesn't require a card. Sign up, build the store, then decide.
03Step 2: Get your music in
Two paths.
If you use DistroKid: the April 2026 integration pulls your entire catalogue in a few clicks. FLAC files, album art, UPC codes, ISRC data, all imported with metadata intact. My last import took 20 minutes for 60 tracks. Once imported, tracks live in your Bandzoogle account permanently, even if you disconnect DistroKid later.
If you don't: upload manually. MP3, WAV and FLAC all work. Set prices per track and per album. Pay-what-you-want is a checkbox if you want it.
Pro plan users get automatic Luminate (formerly SoundScan) reporting on eligible sales, which feeds Billboard charts. Doesn't matter for most artists; matters a lot if you're pushing for charting.
04Step 3: Set up the physical merch store
Add a Merch section to any page. Upload photos, set prices, add variants (size, colour), set inventory counts and toggle shipping rules. Bandzoogle handles the whole checkout flow.
Print-on-demand: the native Printful integration handles fulfilment for tees, hoodies, mugs and posters. Design in Printful, list in Bandzoogle, ship automatically. Zero inventory risk.
Free-shipping discount codes launched July 2026 for Merch Table Pro members. Set a minimum cart amount — $40 gets free shipping, for example — and fans see the discount applied at checkout. Works whether you ship yourself or fulfil through Printful.
05Step 4: Turn on physical pre-orders
This one is worth its own step because it's the highest-leverage move on the platform.
Available on Pro and Merch Table Pro, physical pre-orders launched July 2026. Toggle "Sell as pre-order" on any product, write a custom timing message, and fans see a Pre-order button instead of Add to Cart. Payment is upfront, confirmation emails clearly label the item as a pre-order, and you get a dedicated Pre-orders view to track every sale.
Use cases:
- Vinyl runs with a threshold — "ships once we hit 500 orders"
- New album drops with an early-bird price
- Limited merch drops for a tour
- Signed physical bundles for release week
This is Kickstarter without the platform cut. If you've been running Kickstarters to fund vinyl pressings, this replaces that entire workflow.
06Step 5: Sell tickets to your shows
Pro plan only. Create an event, set date, time, venue and ticket price, then connect to your Bandsintown feed — native integration, and Bandzoogle joined the Bandsintown for Artists Marketplace in November 2025.
Tickets are emailed as printable PDFs. At the venue, use the mobile guest list view to check people in. No third-party ticketing platform, no commission, no service fees added on top of the ticket price.
Reality check: this works well for house shows, listening parties, small headliners and any room where you're the promoter. Bigger venues will usually run their own ticketing — AXS, Eventbrite, TicketWeb — and you don't fight that. Bandzoogle ticketing shines for artist-controlled shows.
Bandzoogle Pro — the plan that unlocks the full playbook
Tickets, physical pre-orders, tip jar, sheet music store and branding removal. Standard covers music plus merch if you don't need those yet.
🎸 No card required for the trial. You still pay Stripe or PayPal processing (typically 2.9% + $0.30) — Bandzoogle takes nothing from the sale itself on any plan. Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
07Step 6: Accept tips at checkout
July 2026 update, Pro and Merch Table Pro plans. Set up to four preset tip amounts — $5, $10, $15, $20 — plus optional custom tips with a minimum you set. At checkout, fans see one-tap buttons, and any tip they add appears as a separate line item.
This is small on any single order and meaningful in aggregate. Fans who love you and just bought a $12 CD will regularly add $10 if the button is right there. That behaviour doesn't happen on Bandcamp.
08Step 7: Launch a sheet music store (if applicable)
Also July 2026, Pro and Merch Table Pro. A dedicated sheet music product type with:
- Individual parts — piano, vocals, guitar, drums — each with its own price and file
- Multiple formats per part: PDF, MusicXML, Sibelius, Finale, Guitar Pro, Power Tab
- Composer, arranger, genre and difficulty fields
- Inline audio preview so fans can hear a short excerpt before buying
- Optional bundle pricing for full sets
If you're a classical, jazz or educational artist, this replaces PDF-selling workflows through Gumroad or ad hoc email. If you're not, ignore this section.
09Step 8: Build the email machine
The store gets you the first sale. The mailing list gets you the second, third and tenth. Bandzoogle's mailing list feature covers:
- Signup forms that embed on any page
- A free download — single track or full album — in exchange for signup; a November 2025 update added searchable dropdowns for picking the incentive
- Scheduled newsletters with a WYSIWYG editor
- Importing existing subscribers from Mailchimp or wherever
Bare minimum flow: free single as list bait → weekly release drops go to the list first → tour announcements to the list 48 hours before public. Do this for six months and you'll notice the difference in Q4 merch sales.
10Plan overview
| Plan | Annual price | Best selling scenario |
|---|---|---|
| Bandzoogle Standard | $14.16/mo | Music plus physical merch — most working artists |
| Bandzoogle Pro | $18.33/mo | Tickets, pre-orders, tips, unlimited catalogue |
| Bandzoogle Merch Table Pro | $20.79/mo | Store-only, for existing websites |
Frequently asked questions
How much do I actually keep on a $20 sale? Roughly $19.12. Stripe or PayPal takes 2.9% + $0.30 — $0.88 on a $20 sale. Bandzoogle takes nothing. Compare that to Bandcamp at $17 kept, or Shopify at $19.12 kept but with $39/month of overhead behind it.
Can I sell tickets and merch on the same plan? Ticket sales require Pro. Merch works from Standard up. If you're doing both, go Pro from the start.
What payment processors are supported? Stripe and PayPal are the main two. Stripe accepts 25 currencies and handles most credit card processing at 2.9% + $0.30 domestic.
Do I need to already have a website? No. Bandzoogle is a full website builder. If you have Squarespace and only want the store, use Merch Table Pro as a storefront module.
Can I sell to international fans? Yes. Bandzoogle supports 25+ currencies through Stripe. Shipping rules let you set different rates by country or region.
What about taxes? TaxJar integration handles US sales tax on Pro. International VAT is your responsibility to configure. Most working musicians never hit thresholds where this matters, but check with an accountant if you're crossing $50k/year in physical sales.
11The 30-day plan
Weekend 1 — set up
Sign up for the trial, pick a template, import music via DistroKid or upload manually. Set up the store with your existing catalogue. Connect Stripe.
Weekend 2 — pre-order
Set up your first pre-order for whatever's next: album, vinyl, merch drop. Write the timing message. Turn on tip acceptance.
Weekend 3 — the list
Migrate your email list. Set up a free-download signup form. Write the first newsletter.
Weekend 4 — launch
Send the newsletter, post the link on socials, watch the sales come in without commission. Upgrade from trial to paid.
The whole playbook fits in four weekends. The part that takes longest isn't the setup — it's deciding to stop renting your audience.
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