Will T-Shirts Save Music? Results Of Hypebot's Merchandise Sales Survey

(Updated) Are increased merchandise sales helping to offset lower revenue from recorded music sales?  Or is that just another bit of new music industry wishful thinking? Just 34% of those that took Hypebot's recent poll thought merchandise was helping all that much. But the poll, while not a scientific survey, did offer insights and a bit of hope for musicians and labels working to develop new income streams. Of the respondents, 34% described themselves as musicians and 22% each said they were labels and managers. Another 22% dubbed themselves "other".  The results:

When asked: "How do current merchandise sales compare to sales prior to the recession?" 42.3% said that sales were "about the same" - not bad in a struggling economy. 28.8% said that their sales are up though an equal number reported down sales. Individual results could also be caused by release and touring cycles, as well as, a rise or fall in fan interest for a particular artist. When asked the size of the average total purchase, 56.3% said $15 - $25.  33% reported average total purchases of less than $15 and 10.4% have average sales over $25.  These numbers would seem to reinforce other findings that show the importance of offering a variety of price points.
Asked next, "How much of your merchandise sales happens online rather than at gigs?", a surprising 27.3% reported that more than 50% of their sales are made online.  20.5% reported 25-50% and 31.8% reported online sales accounted for 10-25% of their total merchandise sales. 20.5% of musicians clearly need to work on their online presence reporting under 10% of merch revenue came via the net.
 Take the survey. And how are you using merchandise sales to increase revenue?