Music fans in the USA can now purchase physical cards similar to gift or trading cards that allow them to listen to songs and albums on their NFC smartphone and add them to an in-app music library by scanning an NFC chip embedded in the card rather than by using streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music.

Community Musician’s Collectible Music Cards will also enable musicians to sell recordings and related artwork directly to fans along with other merchandising materials at live shows and other events without necessarily having released a conventional CD or vinyl LP.

“The card enables fans to enjoy and display the collectible artwork of the band and the convenience of ‘tap to play’ on their phone. Tapping the card on the phone also adds the song to the fan’s ‘private’ library in the Community Musician app so fans don’t have to carry the card to listen to songs if they don’t want to,” Community Musician explains.

“Importantly, fans know that they’re supporting the artists they love who keep the vast bulk of the profit since the transaction occurs outside the app stores, which is positive for both the musicians and the fans.”

Community Musician plans to launch the cards “at the grassroots level” by providing independent artists with cards to sell directly to their fans before “scaling to record stores in partnership with speaker companies” and teaming up with those companies to add support for tap to play on wireless speakers as well as smartphones.

“One of the things we’ve all lost as fans is the ability to share, trade and sell music to each other face to face like we did in the heyday of LPs and CDs. With our tech we have it all — the physical face-to-face sharing and the convenience of a million songs in your pocket,” Community Musician CEO Scott Arey says.

“The best part is when you buy music on our card, you’re really putting cash in the hands of local artists that badly need your support. This is a revolution that’s going to happen, because for new music to survive, it must.”

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