Tim Burgess brings his ‘Merch Market’ to Scotland’s legendary Barrowlands for the first time to give bands 100% of their sales
The Charlatans frontman says getting to the East End venue was the plan from day one, and that bands at the market keep every penny they make.
The One To Another singer has confirmed the Barrowlands will host the final date of the 2027 tour and says the city’s legendary Barrowland Ballroom was always planned as the venue from day one.
Merch Market will come to Scotland on Sunday, February 28, 2027.
Admitting that Glasgow had always been in his plans, he said: “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.
The idea behind Merch Market is for bands exhibiting their merchandise to get a stall for free and keep 100 percent of the revenue from what they sell.
For years, many venues have taken a share of artists’ merchandise sales, which often include posters, t-shirts as well as other accessories.
The Glasgow event will follow the format of the first two markets, with stalls run by the bands themselves, live performances and on-stage Q&A sessions. Organisers say the line-up will be announced later.
Before it reaches Scotland, the 2027 run starts at the Troxy in London on Sunday, January 24, then moves to Freight Island in Manchester on January 31.
Burgess launched the market in Manchester last year. Members of New Order, Inspiral Carpets, Everything Everything, Penfriend and Cabbage all worked the stalls.
The market grew out of Burgess’s campaign against venues taking a cut of merch sales. In 2021 he said “the whole system needs addressing”.
He has always said the issue is bigger than his own band.
“This isn’t about The Charlatans. It’s about those bands who need merch income to survive,” he said. “Some places take 25 per cent. A quarter of the full selling price. Vinyl doesn’t even have that markup to begin with.”
The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) took up the cause and set up a directory of venues that charge no commission on merchandise.
Around 400 venues signed up and agreed not to take a cut of artists’ merch sales. Many more have still not joined.
“Often at Charlatans gigs, our fans smash the record for the bar take at a venue,” Burgess said in 2026.
“When I first tweeted about merch commission, Warren Ellis from The Bad Seeds replied that we could maybe ask the venues for a percentage of the bar take. It’s no more unreasonable than them taxing the merch.”
March Market moved to the Troxy at the start of this year. That event featured Sprints, Gurriers, Dry Cleaning, Honeyglaze and Doves, along with Blur drummer Dave Rowntree and J Willgoose of Public Service Broadcasting.
Burgess said the response had surprised him.
“We came up with the idea of a place for bands to get together and sell merch and make some cash – we didn’t realise how well it would be received,” he said.
“It’s so much more than the sum of its parts – festivals have booked bands for line-ups, fans get to meet their favourite bands and it’s a brilliant way to spend a day. We love that it’s gone from strength to strength and we are really excited for the future.”
Live event payment platform atVenu has signed up to support all three dates. Burgess said the Charlatans have used the company on tour for some time.
“It was the perfect match up,” he said. “Payments and inventory all looked after and it was all started by a team who have a background of being in bands, touring and everything around actual band merch.”
The London event also included Tim’s Vinyl Adventures, the record fair Burgess has run since he published his book of the same name. He put around 300 records from his own collection on sale.
He also launched a vintage-style souvenir ticket generator so fans could have a physical keepsake now that most tickets are digital. He came up with it after more than 2,000 fans told him on social media that they wanted a ticket to remember the Charlatans’ tour.
The market grew out of Burgess’s campaign against venues taking a cut of merch sales.
In 2021 he said “the whole system needs addressing”.
He later said that his stance was “about fairness” rather than money, adding: “Often at Charlatans gigs, our fans smash the record for the bar take at a venue.”