A Look at Modern-Day Anniversary Merch Releases

July 23, 2024

Contributed by Amanda Long

Milestone years in music are undoubtedly important moments – both for the artists and for their loyal fan communities that have been passionate listeners from the start. In celebrating 10, 15, 20, even 30 years of a cult classic album or single, musicians are not only reflecting on a powerful legacy, but also looking to thoughtfully express their gratitude for the thousands of listeners around the world who have been touched by their music.

For many artists, a heartfelt thank you to fans via a social media post used to be enough to recognize an album anniversary. But in recent years, taking it a step further and introducing anniversary merchandise collections and exclusive vinyl pressings is the new focus, illustrating the larger initiative to capture the sentiments surrounding a project and commemorating it with fans in a more tangible way.

While anniversary merch activations have existed for decades, they have typically been confined to legacy artists in the rock space. Many timeless bands, such as AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi, and Aerosmith, for example, have all released anniversary merch collections over the years to celebrate some of their most groundbreaking albums. These collections not only celebrate the long-standing fans that have been with these bands since the beginning, but also entices new listeners, some of whom might not have even been born yet when the original albums and merchandise were released.

Recently, newer artists in the rock and alternative spaces have start to hit their milestone years and are rolling out special editions of products to mark the anniversary with their fans.

Modern alt-rock bands such as Green Day and Switchfoot, for example, whose music dominated the ‘90s and early 2000s, recently celebrated 30th and 20th anniversaries, respectively, with releases focused on new content and well-curated merchandise.

In 2023, Green Day released an exclusive CD and vinyl box set to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their album Dookie, which included the original 15 tracks on the album plus unreleased demos, studio outtakes, and live performances from Woodstock and Barcelona. Along with the pressings, the boxes included memorabilia inspired by the original artwork from the Dookie era, including “doggie poop bags” (yes, you read that correctly), an air-freshener, poster, color-in litho, button set, magnet sheet, postcard, bumper sticker, and paper plane. These exclusive demos and studio tracks, along with all of the other items included in the box sets, essentially “bring” fans behind-the-scenes into Green Day’s creation of the album and immerse them into the nostalgic world of Dookie. The band’s decision to include this unearthed content is a smart strategy to create a sense of direct, special access for longtime fans, who can now “experience” what it was like to be in the room when Dookie was made.

Also released in 2023, Switchfoot celebrated their 20th anniversary for their beloved album, The Beautiful Letdown, with a thoughtful merch drop & re-release to express gratitude for their fans. The release featured a re-recorded version of the album, dubbed The Beautiful Letdown (Our Version), that included features from other musicians who are fans of the band, including Twenty One Pilots, Jon Bellion, and Dayglow. Alongside the re-release of the album, Switchfoot also unveiled new merchandise, including two shirts which featured the band name and lyrics in a handwritten font. By electing to embrace handwritten styles of merch, the band was able to create a more personal, “DIY-feeling” connection for fans. Furthermore, the re-recorded album featuring newer artists is a notable approach to tie together old and new alt-rock influences and engage younger fans.

While the concept of anniversary merch has historically been most visible amongst long-running bands in the rock genre, we’ve also seen an uptick in the strategy amongst pop legends-in-the-making – not just to celebrate milestone decades, but also, anniversaries as short as one year.

In 2020, Harry Styles released four items, including a re-release of a fan-favorite sweatshirt from his very first merch collection as a solo artist, to celebrate the one year anniversary of his Grammy-winning album, Fine Line. More recently, in March 2024, Melanie Martinez released a merch collection to celebrate the one year anniversary of her album Portals, which included shirts with an exclusive print and new cassette designs.

While one year may seem too soon for some fans, it also brings into view the idea that artists want to, and can, extend the life of their smash-success projects on the earlier side if fans are eager to reminisce in it. However, we’ve noticed that artists may opt to only celebrate certain albums from their catalog and not all, perhaps as to not water down the specialness of the anniversary concept. For example, we find it interesting that Styles released anniversary merchandise with Fine Line, but not the multi-Grammy winning Harry’s House, released in 2022, which made the ranking of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” It’s possible he is waiting for a bigger milestone year to recognize the cultural impact of the album in a larger way.

There is also the looming reality that many artists have leftover merchandise that they are not able to fully sell through on tour or when the project was first released. Having an excuse to re-sell the merchandise the following year with the “anniversary” label can be a smart marketing strategy if the products are strong enough to generate a second-wind of demand. But as we’ve seen in our previous examples, most fans are expecting something new when it comes to anniversary collections – a special token or differentiation to embrace the milestone with their communities and mark the anniversary as exactly that: an anniversary, not a re-release.

Artists like Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran have both recently embraced their first decade anniversaries, with Gaga releasing a collection last year for the 10th anniversary of ARTPOP, and Sheeran just recently releasing a collection for the 10th anniversary of his iconic album, X.

Gaga’s ARTPOP collection is still available and features colorful and grungy prints that replicate the alt-Tumblr era that the original album was created in. Sheeran’s collection for X features unique apparel items such as vinyl slipmats and a tracksuit alongside a new pressing of X on vinyl that includes nine never heard before bonus tracks. The exclusive vinyl was released on June 21 and sold out by the 25th, illustrating the demand for older catalog merchandise from fans.

With younger and more pop-leaning artists jumping into creating anniversary merch that caters to their most dedicated fans, we can see anniversary merch releases and celebrations becoming a crucial part of fan appreciation in the music industry. While past releases have often been oriented towards fans who have been following their favorite artists since day one, there is also untapped potential for engaging new audiences through anniversary releases. As illustrated in our recent blog on trends in merch , there are exciting product concepts emerging in the merch space that have been performing well with Gen Z audiences, and in creating products that is thoughtful and specific to their music, artists may be able to draw young, passive listeners into becoming fully engaged fans.

Beyond the merchandise item itself, the interest and demand for anniversary merch can be best captured when artists tap into new artwork for their designs, rather than going with the original album logo. By putting consideration into unique designs that bring a new perspective to the album, artists can create a delicate separation between the first release and the anniversary to elevate its specialness. Plus, it’s worth mentioning that older fans who might already own merchandise from the original album release may be looking for a new concept that nods to the original – not a copy & paste job. We may have a bias in our suggestion, but this is a fantastic opportunity for music artists to tap into fan-designed content to uplift their community’s creative works while also showing appreciation for their support over the years. Fans know best – trust ‘em.

Similarly, Gen Z has been driving a massive spike in vinyl sales, with many high school and college-aged individuals expressing interest in vinyl collection. In 2023, Luminate stated that vinyl sales had grown 14.2% year over year, marking their 18th year of consecutive growth in the U.S. This data directly correlates to the high performance of these anniversary edition vinyl pressings that many bands have been focusing on, showing that there is an extremely high demand for these types of products.

Ultimately, when creating anniversary merch, it is crucial for artists and their teams to tap into the interests of their long-term fans while also capturing current momentum and modern trends to draw in younger and more diverse fan demographics.

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