Card games: iTunes' band freebies

We noticed an interesting phenomenon at Glastonbury this year: instead of flyering or selling CDs, a lot of bands were handing out plastic cards on plug-chains. Intrigued, a Craver snatched one of these contraptions out of the hands of a promoter and scurried away into the crowds. It turns out these are a new means of getting demo tracks into the hands of fans. Most cards entitle you to one free iTunes download of an artist's music.

It's an ingenious means of self-promotion. These iTunes cards are much cheaper than a CD, and better-looking than a flyer. When a band you like hands you a card, you can type the card's unique code into iTunes and get downloading their tracks straightaway.

Also doing the rounds at Glastonbury this year was the ultimate iTunes card. This 'Glastonbury 2005' card entitled the lucky owner to 75 free iTunes downloads. We managed to fleece one of these as well and have been busy downloading a selection of the festival's finest moments.

Expect to see a lot more of these cards over the next year. It probably won't be long before the expired cards are collectible. It's interesting, given the intangibility of downloaded music, that Apple have found a way to let us fetishise digital music in the same way we did record sleeves and CD cover art. -CS