Tim Burgess’ Merch Market will return in 2027 with events in London, Manchester and Glasgow, bringing artist-run merchandise stalls, live performances and on-stage conversations to three venues across the UK.
The first event will take place at London’s Troxy on Sunday, January 24. Manchester’s Freight Island will host the second date on January 31, while the series will conclude at Glasgow’s Barrowlands on February 28. The Glasgow date will mark the first time the Merch Market has been held in Scotland.
Burgess, frontman of The Charlatans, launched the initiative in Manchester last year to give bands and artists the opportunity to sell merchandise without paying for their stalls and to retain all of the proceeds. The inaugural event featured members of New Order, Inspiral Carpets, Everything Everything, Penfriend and Cabbage, among others.
The second edition was held at Troxy earlier this year and included merchandise stalls, live interviews, performances and appearances from Sprints, Gurriers, Blur’s Dave Rowntree, Dry Cleaning, Honeyglaze, Doves and Public Service Broadcasting’s J Willgoose.
Although further details about the 2027 programme will be announced later, organisers say the events will follow the previous format, combining stalls run by artists with live sets, Q&A sessions and other activities.
“When we first thought of doing The Merch Market, our aim was to bring it to Barrowlands – I can’t really overstate my love for the place,” Burgess said.
Live event payment platform atVenu is covering the venue hire fees for this new series of events. Burgess said the idea had developed into a meeting point where bands could sell merchandise, fans could meet artists and festivals could discover acts for future line-ups.
The 2026 edition also featured Tim’s Vinyl Adventures, a record fair connected to Burgess’ book of the same name. At his own stall, he offered around 300 records from his collection. He also introduced a vintage souvenir ticket generator, inspired by a survey of more than 2,000 fans who said they wanted physical keepsakes from upcoming gigs.
The Merch Market grew out of Burgess’ criticism of venues taking what he described as an unfair share of merchandise sales. In comments made in 2021 and reiterated to NME in 2022, he said his position was focused on fairness rather than personal income.
Sources: NME.