Muzicard, a Nashville-based artist service startup, has presented a possible solution for artists to get their music and EPKs to fans. Their answer comes in the form of Muzicard, a credit card-shaped USB flash drive with functionality similar to a CD and much more. The card acts as its own music player, via a proprietary html interface, featuring album art and more. This album widget can be customized to offer a full album, live cuts, rare tracks, best-of or whatever the artist wishes to provide the fans. Further, the interface offers a video player, artist info, fan signup, links to social media, a sponsorship section and more, similar to the artist’s own website. Cards come with custom printing on the front and back. Drive sizes are available between 1 and 128 GB.
The album widget will work with a variety of devices, including PC, Mac, smart phones, tablets, smart TVs and vehicles that support USB media. The main functions of the widget (Audio, Video, Album Art, Shout Out) operate completely within the card itself and do not need an Internet connection to function—just open the widget and press play on computers. In vehicles, fans can plug in and enjoy autoplay, and on tablets, they can access the content either via a lightning cable or a cloud-based iteration of the widget (by scanning the QR code on the card itself – also works for smart phones).
Muzicard main features:
• Dynamic data; aims to never get stuck with out-of-date product. Muzicards can be updated whenever.
• Audio/video player that plays hi-res audio and HD video
• Card sizes that fit artists’ product. Ex: feature 20 songs and 20 videos
• Fan signup form that goes straight to artists’ inbox
• “Have it now” feature – QR code-enabled downloads to mobile devices
• Include a call-to-action, engage fans through social media, etc.
• Include sponsorships on the back and inside of the card
• Coming soon: card tracking--know when and where cards are plugged in
Company founder and principal Mike Farona states, “With CDs quickly becoming obsolete, Muzicard offers an opportunity to provide fans with the next generation of music merchandise that merges the physical with the digital world of music. Muzicard offers a consumer-friendly plug-and-play music device that's not only elegant and simple to use, but easy for artists to create and update.”
For more information, visit muzicard.com.
