If you need a last-minute gift for a music fan and you are not certain which band they would actually want on their wall, a gift card is the better choice. Mine arrives by email as a code, so there is nothing to wrap, and you can either send it straight away or schedule it to land on the morning of their birthday. They then choose the artist, the size and whether it comes framed. You give the budget and the thought. They make the call you were never going to get right by guessing.
Is a gift card a lazy present, or does it just feel that way?
It mostly feels that way, and the feeling belongs to the giver rather than the person opening it.
Researchers at Wharton looked at exactly this and found that givers reliably reach for the highly specific gift because they believe it will read as more thoughtful, while recipients are happier with something that leaves them some latitude. The same work found that people take longer to use a card when it comes bundled with a strong hint about how to spend it.
So the anxiety that stops people buying a gift card is real, but it is not usually shared by the person receiving it. What that research also implies is that the narrower the card, the more it can start to feel like an instruction.
That is the line I have tried to walk here. A card for my shop is specific enough to say something true about the person: you know they care about music or film enough to hang it on a wall. It is open enough that they still pick the record collection that means something to them, out of the whole catalogue of maps.
What if I do not know which band they would choose?
Then you are in the situation the card was made for, and you are in good company. I research and draw every one of these maps myself, and I still change my mind about which is my favourite.
Guessing an artist is a genuine risk. Someone can love a band and still not want that particular record on their wall, or they may already own a print of it, or the one you would pick is the obvious album rather than the one they actually play.
Handing over the choice removes all of that. It also means they end up with something hand-researched rather than something generic, which is the part a high street gift card cannot do.
Redeemable against any music or film map in the shop. Never expires, and any unspent balance stays on the card.
How quickly does a last minute gift card actually arrive?
It goes out by email, so the answer is minutes rather than days. There is no print run and no packing in between.
That matters more than it sounds, because a framed piece of wall art is not something that can land in an inbox. A card can.
You can also set the send date. If you are organised in November and the birthday is in March, you can buy it now and have it arrive on the morning itself, which is the one thing a wrapped parcel sitting in a cupboard cannot do.
Which gift card value should I choose?
I have set the values against the actual catalogue, so each one clears a specific format outright rather than leaving the recipient to find the difference. Prints are £42.00 for A2 unframed, £58.00 for A1 unframed, £125.00 for A2 in a black wood frame and £175.00 for A1 in a black wood frame.
| Card | Value | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | £20.00 | A contribution towards any print they choose |
| Classic | £50.00 | An A2 unframed print, with change |
| Statement | £65.00 | An A1 unframed print, with change |
| Smaller Gallery | £135.00 | An A2 print in a black wood frame |
| Large Gallery | £200.00 | An A1 print in a black wood frame, with room to spare |
Values show in your own local currency at checkout.
What will they actually spend it on?
Every print is a discography or a film plot drawn as a London Underground map, with each album or scene as a station on the line. The music maps also carry the musicians, so you can follow a bass player or a session keyboard player across a whole career.
The David Bowie map is the one people redeem against most often, and it is a fair illustration of what the card buys: years of reading sleeve credits, drawn as a single route.
The studio albums in order as stations, with the players who ran through them drawn as lines. Held in the permanent collection at the V&A David Bowie Centre.
If the person you are buying for leans somewhere less obvious, that is precisely the argument for the card. The Nick Cave map is a good example of the sort of thing somebody picks for themselves and you would probably never have landed on.
The Bad Seeds line-up drawn across the albums, one of the many maps a card can be spent on.
How do I make a gift card feel like a real present?
Three things do most of the work, and none of them takes long.
- Say why you chose this shop. One line in the message about the band you both saw, or the record they play constantly, turns the card into evidence that you were paying attention.
- Time it properly. Schedule it for the morning rather than sending it three days early alongside the other admin in their inbox.
- Pick a value that clears a whole print. A card that covers a format outright feels finished. One that leaves them to top it up feels like a voucher.
Frequently asked questions
Does the gift card expire?
No. It has no expiry date, and if they spend less than the full value, the remaining balance stays on the card for next time.
Can I send it on a specific date?
Yes. You can have it delivered immediately or schedule it to arrive on a birthday, an anniversary or Christmas morning.
Can it be spent in more than one go?
Yes. Any unspent balance stays on the card, so a larger value can cover a print now and a second one later.
Can it be spent on the film maps as well as the music ones?
Yes. It works against anything in the shop, including the film plot maps and the town maps, not just the discography prints.
What are the prints made from?
Every one is a Giclée print on 230gsm premium fine art paper, textured matte, archival and acid-free, in A2 at 594 x 420 mm (23 x 16 in) or A1 at 841 x 594 mm (33 x 23 in). Framed prints come ready to hang in a black wood frame.
Will it work if they live outside the UK?
Yes. The value appears in their local currency at checkout.
Short on time, or short on certainty
Send a card in the next few minutes and let them pick the record collection that actually means something to them.
Choose a gift cardSent by email. No expiry date. Redeemable against any print.
If you would rather take the risk and pick something yourself, the music art print collection is where I would start.
