Inside Songcards: A Creative Take on Digital Music
Introduction / About Songcards
Songcards is a digital music marketplace that takes a unique approach, blending music collectables with the convenience of digital media, which I’d describe as a digital version of the song and book cards made by Yoto. The advantage Songcards offers is that not only are they giving music they’re also allowing bands and artists to give their fans digital bonuses which can help the fans feel like they have something unique.
It’s more than just a way to buy music digitally, Songcards make buying digital music feel more special than just downloading an MP3.. It’s a fresh and unique way for bands and artists to sell and distribute their music, the Songcards info page states that what collecting on Songcards offers over streaming is that there’s proof, proof that you found that artist before all these other people.
To learn more we’ve asked Songcards creator and founder Christopher Carvalho some questions about Songcards, the future for the platform and more.
Christopher Carvalho on Songcards, Digital Music, and the Future
What inspired you to create what is now Songcards?
The original inspiration was seeing how musicians use the link-in-bio. That space was and still is very interesting to me. There are a lot of solutions there, including your Linktrees and Pre-saves. I wanted to make something where a fan can easily spend money with an artist, using tech that’s already there like Apple and Google Pay. That’s still the case with Songcards, instant checkout.
How does Songcards benefit artists and bands beyond giving them financial support? In what ways does the platform help them build communities around the music they create?
Increasing the value of a transaction between artist and fan is the primary goal. I think it’s reasonable to spend the same amount for a song as we do a coffee, so that’s the general idea. In terms of communities, I see the collectors of a given songcard as a community unto itself but I’m a little while from unlocking that experience at this point.
How would artists and bands receive their payments through sales on the platform?
At this early stage I’m keeping it open, whether that be via Stripe, PayPal, invoicing etc. At a point of scale I will likely need to pick one or two methods, but I’m open.
Is there any ideas to offer artists to make a group of Songcards in future, as currently they’re stuck to one-track singles, maybe something like an EP or album?
Definitely. There are a few ways I might go about this, and I might even go with all of them.
First of all, musicians can include bonus material along with the featured song of the songcard. However, that material isn’t accessible via the music player like the song is, so it’s not ideal for EPs or Albums.
I intend at some point to make the concept of a multi-song songcard. These will likely be priced at higher tiers.
And one more version of this is something in the roadmap called Songcard Packs. Collections of Songcards fans can buy, a bit like trading card packs. Lots of food for thought there.
For the entire time Songcards has been up have any challenges or issues arisen?
The mobile app was quite a big challenge. Not in terms of building the app itself, but going through the app distribution process. Other than that, being a solo developer and balancing it all it’s a challenge in that plate-spinning kind of way we can all relate to.
Have there been any unusual and creative ways that artists have been able to use Songcards?
This is one of my favourite parts of the gig. Seeing how people engage or interpret the idea is fascinating and often very surprising. The bonus media (now called Crates) was a surprisingly popular feature in terms of the creativity I’ve seen from it. People are adding interesting things to their songcards, like branded lyric sheets, behind-the-scenes footage etc.
Do you see Songcards as a potential competitor to Bandcamp, or is that not the direction you're aiming for? Do you think that could change in the future?
Bandcamp is a huge inspiration for me. If Bandcamp didn’t exist, I don’t think I would have come up with this idea, or had any hope that people would buy digital music. I love Bandcamp and continue to build a collection there. Competing or even collaborating with them, even in the smallest of ways would be an honour and a privilege.
My final question is, is there anything Songcards has planned for this new year we’re in?
Last year I spent most of my developer time on the mobile apps, which are out now. So now it’s a a lot of running down the roadmap and dropping the aforementioned features.
Outro
So now you know, if you were looking for a new digital music store then look no further. All the upcoming features that Christopher mentioned seem exciting, like Songcards Packs, which I’m especially looking forward to. I look forward to potentially seeing that further down the line, but as we are only in the early stages of this year Songcards could just be the next big thing in 2025.
Make sure to check out Songcards for yourself at: songcards.io
If you’d like more future content like this, consider subscribing to the Soundworks Substack and make sure to follow us on Bluesky for more.