Michaela Anne spent $325 to overnight a box of merchandise to Columbus, Ohio. A storm in Tennessee delayed the shipment. The package store would not hold it. She was left with nothing to sell.
The singer-songwriter told the story in a new interview with Rolling Stone's Nashville Now podcast, recounting what she called a merch debacle that left her in tears during a tour stop on a run with the band Fantastic Cat.
The trouble started when things were actually going well. She had packed 50 pounds of vinyl copies of her new album, These Are the Days, in a second suitcase and paid to check it on the airline. The audience at her first show bought every copy she had. She needed more for the remaining dates.
"I had my husband overnight a box of merch, $325, to Columbus [Ohio], the next morning. There were storms here in Tennessee, so it didn't arrive. And if it's a storm, it's an 'Act of God,' so they won't refund you. Then I don't have any merch to sell," she told Rolling Stone. "I'm adding up all the potential dollars that I could have made, and now I've spent. It was so stressful."
When the replacement shipment eventually was set to arrive, the package store had a policy against holding boxes for pickup. Michaela Anne went to the manager directly and explained her situation.
"He said, 'Nope. I'm not going to do it. If I do it for you, I have to do it for everybody,'" she recalled. "I said, 'Sir, can I please tell you my story? I'm a touring musician. The only way I make a living is from my merch sales, I have two young children at home' … and I started to cry."
The manager relented. He later called her to let her know the package had arrived. She credited the outcome not to the tears but to the act of explaining herself honestly. "It's a testament to the power of storytelling," she said, "that it builds empathy and connects us to each other. He became invested … Later, I was getting coffee and that man called me: 'Guess what I have waiting for you?'"
These Are the Days is a fully independent release that Michaela Anne crowdfunded. She handles her own logistics, including shipping merchandise to venues on the road. According to Rolling Stone, she says her experience mirrors that of many other musicians who are finding it increasingly difficult to tour.
Michaela Anne is performing this Fourth of July weekend at Rolling Stone's Stateside Festival in Kingston, New York, which is headlined by Noah Kahan. The festival stop is one of several live dates she has scheduled this summer.
