Musicians will soon be able to sell merchandise to their fans directly through their YouTube channel the Google-owned video-sharing site has announced.

The new service, called the Merch Store, will allow YouTube partners to offer concert tickets, music sales, digital downloads, and an endless array of t-shirts in the same place fans come to see and hear the latest performances of their favourite artists.

YouTube announced on its official blog at the weekend that it is partnering with suppliers in order to support the new service. These include merchandising specialist Topspin, concert ticket website Songkick and digital music download merchants Amazon and Apple (through its iTunes music store), says Christian Weitenberner, YouTube senior technical account manager.

The Merch Store will be available globally, with the roll out planned to take place over the next few weeks.