Barasuara's Brand Image and Merchandise Purchase Intention in the Digital Creative Ecosystem

This study examines the influence of a brand image variable on purchase intention toward t-shirt theme merchandise’s purchase intention among the followers of the Instagram account @barasuara within Indonesia’s indie music industry ecosystem. The research implemented a quantitative explanatory approach with a purposive sampling technique to analyze how audience’s perceptions of band identity and their digital communication able to shape consumer purchasing behavior, these data were collected through an online questionnaire with a total of 230 Barasuara Instagram followers as respondents and further analysis using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and simple linear regression. The findings show that respondents tend to have a highly positive perceptions toward Barasuara’s artistic identity, particularly in terms of musical quality, creativity, emotional value, and artistic uniqueness. Study also reveals that Barasuara brand image has a positive and significant influence on purchase intention toward Barasuara merchandise. The regression analysis revealed that brand image contributed 23.1% to respondents’ purchase intention behavior, indicating a moderate relationship between the two variables. Beyond commercial considerations, the findings suggest that merchandise consumption within indie music communities may also reflect emotional attachment, symbolic participation, and audience identity. The Study also reveals that social media platforms such as Instagram play a role as a resilience medium in maintaining the sustainability of the Indonesian indie music industry through audience engagement and their support for merchandise produced by the digital music community. This study contributes to the discussion of digital marketing communication, consumer behavior, and sustainability within Indonesia’s digital creative industry ecosystem.