New Order, The Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets and more to host stalls at Manchester Merch Market 

A new wave of artists have been confirmed for the Manchester Merch Market 2025, with New Order, The Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets and more set to appear at their own stalls.

• READ MORE: Soundtrack Of My Life: Tim Burgess

News of the market was first shared last month, when it was confirmed that Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess had organised an event where bands could sell their merchandise for free and keep 100 per cent of the income.

Taking place on May 25 from 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. For Burgess, his stall will contain a number of rarities that he’s collected over the years, five Charlatans ‘Sproston Green’ sports bags and more, and he will also deliver a live show at the event.

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

Now, NME can exclusively reveal that a huge number of artists have been confirmed as taking part in Merch Market 2025 including New Order, A Certain Ratio, BMX Bandits, Inspiral Carpets and more.

The solo artists and members of each band will be appearing at the event, running the stalls themselves, selling merchandise to fans, and taking part in other activities across the site.

For New Order, drummer Stephen Morris and keyboardist/guitarist Gillian Gilbert will be hosting the stall, as well as doing an on-stage interview with Dave Haslam.

Discussing the event, organiser Tim Burgess said:  “Merch is a key element that can help bands thrive and survive in a world where income from actual music is lower than ever. The Merch Market is a commission-free zone where bands can set up shop and sell direct to fans.

“No fees, everything kept by the artists for whatever they want to spend it on – more to announce soon but I’ve texted lots of friends in bands and it’s going to be a brilliant day.”

He continued: “I can’t quite believe what’s happened with The Merch Market – a new order stall with Stephen and Gillian doing an on-stage interview would be enough for me but so many amazing artists got in touch, from bona fide legends to younger bands taking their first steps. Still lots of exciting stuff to announce too. See you in Manchester at the end of May.”

Check out the full list of artists and businesses taking part below.

We were going to announce the first wave of bands involved in The Merch Market this morning. But it’s so good everyone would have thought it was an April Fool’s Day trick pic.twitter.com/8J2gFl09kr

— Tim Burgess (@Tim_Burgess) April 1, 2025

Artists appearing at the 2025 Manchester Merch Market are:

New Order
The Charlatans
BMX Bandits
Inspiral Carpets
Nik Void
Natalie McCool
Tom A Smith
Sea Fever
Bis
Pete Wylie
Stealing Sheep
A Certain Ratio
Loose Articles
Milltown Brothers
Geneva Jacuzzi
Jane Weaver
Mark Gardener
Mich Dulce & Her Midnight Callers
Finn Forster
Ruby J
James Walsh
PINS
EEVAH
Andy Votel
Lissy Taylor
Riding The Low
Goo
May Payne
Mar Gunnarsson
The Froobz
Deja Vega
Two Headed Horse
The Cavs
Cloudburst

Businesses and companies taking part in the 2025 Manchester Merch Market are:

​​Press On Vinyl
Ox4 Sound
Print Manchester
Needle Mythology (Pete Paphides label)
Wee Badgers
One Stop Badges
Kendal Calling
Gail Myerscough
Ben The Illustrator
Cloud 9 Guitars
Bands FC
Amelia Fearon
Lucy Roth
Star Shaped DJs
Off The Rails Magazine
Timbola (win merch/festival tickets/studio time etc)
Fairsound
Swift Mastering
Serenity Booksellers
Five Rise Records

The multi-venue 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.

Inspiration for the event comes after the artist spoke out about venues that took an unfair cut of merch sales back in 2021, saying: “The whole system needs addressing.”

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

It was later 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.

Burgess drew light to the situation again when speaking to NME in 2022, saying that the call for change was more “about fairness” than “money”, and Nottingham’s Rock City soon waived its traditional cut of merch sales at a Charlatans’ show in response to Burgess’ campaigning.

Burgess isn’t alone in calling for change around merchandise either. Previously, Architects called on bands to “go on strike” in protest, Yard Act and The Big Moon launched their own pop-up stores on tour, and Tomberlin called out a venue after it asked for over 40 per cent of her merch sales.

Over the pond, Jack Antonoff has previously told venues to “stop taxing” merch, saying that it was “literally the only way you make money when you start out touring”.

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