Check out who’ll be where at this weekend’s Manchester Merch Market

Tim Burgess‘ forthcoming Manchester Merch Market event – where bands can sell their merchandise for free and keep 100 per cent of the income – is taking place this Sunday (May 25).

• READ MORE: Soundtrack Of My Life: Tim Burgess

The event, which was announced by the The Charlatans frontman earlier this year, will start at 11am. Entry to the market is free and will see a number of artists run their own stalls and sell their own merchandise to fans.

Participating venues holding stalls, live performances and on-stage interviews include O2 Ritz Manchester, Gorilla, Dog Bowl and more.

It was previously announced that New Order, A Certain Ratio, BMX Bandits, Inspiral Carpets were amongst some of the bands expected to be present at Manchester Merch Market. Also appearing are Milltown Brothers, Geneva Jacuzzi, Jane Weaver, Mark Gardener, Mich Dulce & Her Midnight Callers, Finn Forster, Ruby J, James Walsh, PINS, EEVAH, Andy Votel and Lissy Taylor.

Now, the stage and site breakdowns and map of the Manchester Merch Market have been revealed. Check them out below.

Full list of venues, bands and people expected at Manchester Merch Market 

02 Ritz Manchester

Tim Burgess
New Order
Sea Fever
BMX Bandits
Inspiral Carpets
Boon Army / Dantzic
Bis / Wee Badgers
A Certain Ratio
Mark Gardener / Ox 4 Sound / Ride
Doves
Press On Vinyl / Swift Mastering / FairSound / Needle Mythology / Precious Recordings Of London / Wiaiwya Records
James Walsh
Ben The Illustrator
Nik Void
Mich Dulce & Her Midnight Callers
Nell Smith’s family
Tom A. Smith
Kendal Calling
Chris Bridgett
Strap Originals
Penfriend
Bands F.C.
Merch For Life
Upstairs: Print Manchester’s on the spot print shop
13:00 Mark Gardener (on stage interview)
14:00 Sea Fever (live)
15:00 Stephen Morris & Gillian Gilbert with Dave Haslam (on stage interview)
17:00 May Payne (live)
18:00 Tim Burgess (live)
20:00 Dave Haslam (DJ set)

Gorilla

Milltown Brothers
Deja Vega
Natalie McCool
HOUSE Of ALL
PINS
Jane Weaver
Andy Votel
Stealing Sheep
Riding The Low
Loose Articles
Cabbage
Gail Myerscough
Everything Everything
Better Joy
Nev Cottee
The Mazzanine: Serenity Booksellers / Route
Publishing / Dave Haslam
Interviews with Dave Haslam and Amelia Fearon
12:00 Tim Burgess
12:30 Jane Weaver
14:00 Lucy Roth
16:00 Mar Gunnarsson
17:30 Natalie McCool
plus lots more
Live:
18:45 Natalie McCool
19:30 Riding The Low
20:15 Milltown Brothers

BrickHouse Social

Hannah Ashcroft
Cases
Ventrelles
Finn Forster
Sonic Boom Festival
Analogue Trash
The Folk Drama
The Froobz
Dead Stilettos
42s Records: The Institutes, Small Black Arrows and Ventrelles

Dog Bowl

The Cavs
The Maddocks
Spangled
2 Headed Horse
Lissy Taylor
EEVAH
Dirty Laces
Bradford
The Rosadocs
Timbola
Star Shaped
The Zangwills

Mother Marys

11.00 The Rosadocs
13.00 Cloudburst
14.00 The Froobz
15.00 Mich Dulce and Her Midnight Callers
16.00 Goo
19.00 Deja Vega
20.00 Two Headed Horse

The Tunnel of Love

Excitement and surprises all day
11:30 Tom A. Smith
12:15 James Walsh
13:00 Ruby J
14:30 The Folk Drama
16:00 Chris Bridgett
17:30 Mar Gunnarsson
Barney Williams and special guests will be playing Terry Hall’s piano throughout the afternoon & evening
Five Rise Record Shop
Tonic Music Merch Stand & Lounge
plus stalls hosted by Goo, James Walsh & more

Burgess will have his own stall during the day, selling merch and rarities that he’s collected over the years. He’ll have five Charlatans ‘Sproston Green’ sports bags on sale too, before they are available to order.

Lots of bands who can’t make it will also be sending merchandise that fans may have missed out on, including Doves, Pulp, The Vaccines and Stiff Little Fingers.

Speaking about the forthcoming event, Burgess said: “We’re all geared up for a big day – it’s been brilliant watching everything come together and I have my eye on a few rarities on the other stalls.”

Manchester Merch Market builds on the success of Tim Burgess’ Vinyl Adventures record fair in the city back in 2021, and more artists participating in the event are set to be shared at a later date.

In 2021, Burgess spoke out about venues that took an unfair cut of merch sales, saying: “The whole system needs addressing.”

He explained at the time: “This isn’t about The Charlatans. It’s about those bands who need merch income to survive. Some places take 25 per cent. A quarter of the full selling price. Vinyl doesn’t even have that markup to begin with.”

Later, it was confirmed that 400 venues had agreed not to take a cut of artists’ merch proceeds by joining the ‘100% Venues’ database. However, many venues are still not signed up to the scheme.

Speaking to NME in 2022, Burgess said the issue was “about fairness” rather than “money”. “Often at Charlatans gigs, our fans smash the record for the bar take at a venue,” he commented.

“When I first tweeted about merch commission, Warren Ellis from The Bad Seeds replied [saying] that we could maybe ask the venues for a percentage of the bar take. It’s no more unreasonable than them taxing the merch.”

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