Christmas Gifts for Music Fans: Discography Maps of More Than 70 Artists
Christmas gifts for music fans are hardest to get right for the person who already owns the records. My discography maps chart the studio albums of more than 70 artists as a London Underground-style diagram: each album is a station, and each credited musician runs as a line through the records they actually played on.
The same format covers films too, so a fan of Bond, Blade Runner or Jaws is just as easy to buy for as a fan of Bowie or The Beatles.
Why a Music Map Works as a Christmas Present
I design every map myself, without AI at any stage. Every credit comes from liner notes, session archives and label credits, worked through album by album before a single line goes into the layout file.
That is what makes it a present rather than a poster. A fan who has owned the albums for thirty years still finds names on the map they had never connected, and the format is one they already read instinctively from a train platform wall.
The research is also what gives each map its shape. The David Bowie map charts 26 studio albums and 165 musicians, and a version of it is held in the permanent collection at the V&A David Bowie Centre. The Rolling Stones map connects 374 credits.
Start With Their Favourite Artist
If you know the one band they love above all others, the choice makes itself. A few that tend to land well at Christmas:
- The Beatles, also available as a black edition
- David Bowie, 26 studio albums from 1967 to Blackstar
- Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, a version of which is held at the Bruce Springsteen Archives at Monmouth University
- Pink Floyd, 15 albums and 92 credits
- Joe Jackson, 21 albums and 189 musicians over 40 years
- The Fall, 31 albums, 56 musicians and one line that never breaks
- James Bond, 25 Eon films and six Bonds
Every artist has a product page of its own, and the full range is in the music map collection and the film plot map collection.
Christmas Presents by Era and Scene
If their taste is a decade or a scene rather than one band, I have written a short guide to each group of maps. Each one picks out the musicians who link maps together, which is often the detail that tips the choice.
- 1960s music fans: fourteen maps and the session players who link them
- 1970s music fans: seven maps, two of them linked by a Lyricon
- 80s music fans: the drummer who links two of the maps
- Prog and classic rock fans: eight maps, six names that appear on two of them
- Punk and post-punk fans: ten maps to pick from
- Manchester music fans: which of the city's maps to pick
- Country music fans: Bryan Sutton is on three of the four maps
- Fans of solo artists: twenty-three maps of solo careers
For the Music Fan Who Already Has Everything
The fan who owns every pressing is the one a map suits best, because it carries information they do not already have. They will know the albums; they are less likely to have traced who played on which of them.
I have written a longer buying guide to music gifts for serious fans, including what tends to suit vinyl collectors and how a map compares with other memorabilia. For anyone who reads the credits for fun, there is also a guide to the nine maps the bands themselves helped correct.
Music Wall Art for a Music Room
If the present is really for a room, a framed A1 map makes a centrepiece over a record shelf or a hi-fi. My guide to wall art for large music rooms covers sizing and placement, and music discography wall art explains how the format reads on a wall.
Sizes, Paper and Framing
All the prints are Giclée prints on 230gsm premium fine art paper, textured matte, archival and acid-free. They come in A3, A2 and A1, with 16 x 12in, 24 x 18in and 36 x 24in sold alongside them as separate formats for US frames.
Every size is supplied unframed or ready to hang in a black wood frame. A small number of maps, including both Beatles editions and the Levellers, are produced in A1 only.
If you are unsure which to pick, my A2 or A1 size guide walks through it.
Christmas Gift Questions
What is a good Christmas gift for a music fan?
Something specific to the artist they love that tells them something new. A discography map does both, because it names the credited musicians across the studio albums, not just the album titles they already know.
What if I do not know their favourite artist?
Give a gift card and let them choose. The art print gift card covers every music and film map, and I explain why it beats a guess in this guide to last-minute gifts for music fans.
Are live albums and compilations on the maps?
Almost never. The maps chart studio albums, and live records, compilations and soundtracks are left off by editorial rule, with a few exceptions such as Cody Johnson's live Live and Rocking (2007). Anything released after a map was drawn is not on it. I explain the reasoning in what gets left off a discography map.
When should I order a print for Christmas?
Order by Monday 7 December for the UK, Thursday 3 December for Europe, Monday 30 November for the US and Canada, and Tuesday 10 November for Australia. These are my recommended dates rather than guaranteed cut-offs, with extra margin because printing slows at peak and some parcels were held up last year. After these dates, a gift card is the safe choice, and the full details are on my Christmas order dates page.
Can I buy several maps for different people?
Yes, and a multi-buy discount is applied automatically at checkout when you order two or more prints together.
Give Something They Will Keep Reading
If the person you are buying for still plays albums start to finish, knows the name of every session musician, or quotes Blade Runner line for line, there is a map that fits. Find their artist in the music map collection, or let them pick with a gift card.