How Softside works
Where fan art becomes official merch
Fan merch deserves a legitimate home
Every day we come across stunning merch created by fans for their favorite music artists. They're often sold in unofficial spaces, such as third-party marketplaces and social media, without proper licensing or artist approval.
As a result, fan merch is typically considered "bootleg" and taken down for IP infringement.
So, we built a way for artists and fans to co-create officially, with design collaboration, licensing, production, fulfillment and payments handled in one place.
Rather than fight the fan merch market, we're empowering it, and doing it right.
Everything handled in one place
Turn your fan art into official merch - we'll take care of the behind-the-scenes logistics.
Join and build your portfolio
Propose collabs
Get approved
Global fulfillment
Earn royalties weekly
Frequently asked questions
No, it's free to make an account.
Yes.
Creators whose designs are approved and sold as official merch through Softside earn a royalty on every sale.
The minimum guaranteed royalty paid to creators is 15% of Net Revenue per sale. Creators may be paid a higher royalty at the discretion of the respective music artist partner.
Net Revenue is defined as: Retail Price - Production Costs - Transaction/Credit Card Fees.
- Retail Price is the price a customer pays for a product before shipping fees or sales tax are added at checkout. Retail Price shall be inclusive of any promotional discounts that may be added for specific campaigns.
- Production Costs are the costs required to manufacture and fulfill a product. These may vary depending on the type of item, material, and size.
- Transaction/Credit Card Fees are the fees incurred to process a transaction in our platform. Softside does not determine these fees - they are set by our payment partner, Stripe. The transaction fee is currently set at 2.9% + 30¢ USD. Bank transfer fee is 0.25% + 25¢ per payout. Additional fees may be incurred for international banks or currency conversions.
All approved merchandise designs are owned by the respective music artist partner, as they incorporate and rely upon the artist's name, image, and likeness.
If you submit a design through the Merch Template Builder and it is approved, copyright ownership of the final design - including any requested edits - will be transferred to the applicable music artist partner.
If you submit work through a Portfolio submission and it is approved, copyright ownership of the finalized design - including any requested edits - will be transferred to the applicable music artist partner. You will continue to retain ownership of the other content in your Portfolio.
Once a design is approved, you'll receive a copyright transfer agreement to review and sign. This step is required before the design can move into production.
If there is ever a future scenario where Softside or an artist partner wants to utilize the design for other purposes outside of our platform (i.e. bulk order for a tour), you will be sent a new agreement that reflects any updated terms, such as the use, mutually agreed compensation, and other details.