Music business cards that play your music

Print your name and one way to hear your music. A business card gets a few seconds of attention at a merch table or a bar, so every extra line takes attention from the one you care about. Choose the single thing you want the person to do next and print only what supports it.

On any music business card, from any printer:

• Your name as people already know it. Use the name on your posters and your streaming profile, so someone can find you again.
• What you make, in two or three words. Folk duo. House DJ.
• One place to send people. A single QR code that opens your music gives people one thing to do. Print one code instead of a row of social handles.
• A picture you already use. Your cover or your press photo. Choose the one people have seen most often with your name.
• A way to reach you, if you want to be reached. If you print an email address, print one you check.

Leave off the bio and the quotes from reviews. Your press kit can carry those.

After your set, people ask where they can hear you. A card answers that in one scan. Keep a stack at the merch table and tuck one into each shipped order, next to the shirt or the record.

Put your newest release on it, not your whole catalog. A band prints one card in the band's name, so everyone hands out the same thing.

For a table routine and the words to say to someone who hesitates, read how to sell your music at shows.

A DJ's card tends to reach two kinds of people. A promoter wants a mix and a number to call. A dancer wants to hear your tracks again at home. A music card serves the dancer.

A promoter still needs a way to reach you, and the card has no field for one. Hand over your usual contact details with it, or ask about a contact card, described below.

Keep to your own productions. The upload terms say: "You promise that you own it or have permission to use it, and that it does not break the law or anyone else's rights." A mix built from other artists' records is not yours to upload unless the people who own those recordings agreed. The terms page has the full wording.

A producer's card goes to the people who might use the beats: a rapper at a studio session, an A&R at a showcase. They scan, enter a first name and an email, and the tape plays on the spot. You see the name and email of each person who does. If they ticked the news box, write to them the next day, while they still remember the beat.

The beat tapes page covers the producer setup in more detail. The upload rule above applies here too. A card does not clear a sample, so a beat built on someone else's recording raises the same question on a card as it does on a streaming service.

The phone opens a private page for your music. The listener enters a first name and an email, and the player opens. No app and no account are needed. The page is not listed on any public page, though every card in a pack carries the same link.

1. They point the phone camera at the QR code.
2. The page asks for a first name and an email, both required. Its default headline reads "Enter email to listen".
3. Under the fields sits a box that starts unticked. It reads "Send me news from", followed by your artist name. The music opens whether or not they tick it. A notice under the box says their details go to you through Slappcard.
4. They play the music. They can download it only if you turned downloads on.

Plays, downloads and scans show up on your artist dashboard. You can see everyone who entered a name and an email, whether or not they ticked the news box. On exports, the Privacy page says: "The artist can export only fans who ticked the box to get news and fans from before the card asked; other fans can be viewed but not exported." On the fan's email, it says: "It is not sold, and no other artist receives it."

The form does not check that an email address is real, so expect a few typos.

To hear the player without the email step, open the DJ Cutlass sample page. DJ Cutlass is a demo artist, and the page plays a short clip. The code in the drawing at the top of this page opens it. The cards on the samples page open at the email step, and a demo button fills in a fan's details for you.

1,000 cards cost $180.00, or $0.18 a card. Smaller packs cost more per card: 100 cards are $120.00, or $1.20 a card. Every size is the same card, and only the count changes. Free shipping to the US and Canada.

You design the card, choose a pack size and pay at the end. If a name and an email address on card stock is all you need, a print shop will do the job. A Slappcard adds the QR code and the hosted music page, and keeps a list of the people who entered their email.

The pricing page lists the same packs.

• It has no phone, email or booking field. The designer is built around your name, your art and a release title, plus a few short lines. The QR code opens your music, not a page of contact details.
• It is not a contact card. A contact card lists your name, title, phone, email, website and social links, and the person can save it to their phone. We make those as custom orders. Ask through the contact page.
• It does not tap. Packs scan with a phone camera. Tap-to-play needs NFC, which only the Professional Kit has. We quote the kit through the contact page.
• It does not say which card was scanned. Every card in a pack carries the same link, so a scan does not tell you which card, or which show, it came from. Anyone who holds or photographs a card can open the page.
• It does not put your music on Spotify or any other streaming service. Slappcard does not distribute to them. The card plays your music on its own private page.