Google’s newly launched Merch Store could give musicians and fans a huge opportunity for connecting via favorite YouTube videos. Announced yesterday, October 17, Google said they hope their new store with boost music merch sales, from concert tickets to stickers, band merch T-shirts, and music downloads, for fans that tend to watch YouTube clips of favorite performers.

The Merch Store provides fairly inexpensive solutions for musicians needing to get their merch out to the public and fans, but can’t afford to have their own ecommerce site. The cost is $10 per month to utilize the store from which you can sell music downloads, merch, even concert tickets.

According to Google, “Whether you’re the main event, the opener, or jamming from your living room, we want to give you the chance to find an audience and make music your career on YouTube.”

From what we’ve seen so far, the Merch Store could give entities such as Live Nation and even iTunes a run for their money because it offers a well-rounded solution (i.e., not just tickets and not just downloads). The people behind the master plan are also veterans of digital music, technology, ecomm solutions, and various top music marketing moguls.

By starting with music, Google’s Merch Store clearly shows they know the power of the medium to spread the word to today’s youth culture. And as the music industry continues to shift away from making money from music, towards merch sales instead, this solution could provide even more up-and-coming bands the opportunity to live from their craft rather than relying solely on record labels and other means to make it in today’s challenging economic climate. Just as YouTube helped bands pop into the mainstream, so too could the Merch Store help bands pop via creative merch options.

The Merch Store will be rolling out in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more soon.