It’s the middle thing between not gifting something specific but also no just giving money. Sometimes you are not sure what exactly a person wants, but giving money directly might feel too unpersonal? Other than that, i completely agree with you that it sucks. Stores must love them though, they already have the money without having to provide a service / product and then many people will forget, the gift cards expire etc. I’m of the opinion that the cards shouldn’t expire, or at least have a very high expiration date (like minimum 10 years).
Yup, Bandcamp. You can also click on “Genres”, then clicking on any genre will propose further subgenres. So currently i’m in a atmospheric black metal phase. Going to “metal”, “black Metal”, then “atmospheric black metal” shows me bands i might like.
Obviously genres are very fluid and sometimes subjective, but as a general tool to find music they work for me.