In the last few years, QR codes have seen a steady rise in popularity — and not just for music. You see them everywhere now: on bus ads and billboards; even in a lot of restaurants, where you can scan a QR code on the table to view their food choices on your device instead of on a paper menu.
There’s a reason QR codes are popular: they’re small and portable across print and digital media; they’re easy to generate; and they’re effective. In this age when most people carry a smartphone with a camera, QR codes allow for a simple scan and page load. They eliminate mistakes made when typing in a web address—instead, the QR code quickly and reliably gets the person to the exact page they need to load.
What is a QR Code?
Simply put, a QR code is a unique type of two-dimensional barcode. It was developed in 1994 by Japanese company Denso Wave to better label, track, and catalog their automobile parts.
Their easy-to-use capacity for cataloging and tracking make them extra special when it comes to getting your music promoted and easily into the hands of your fans!
Bandzoogle provides you with special QR codes you can access any time to share content from your site. You can easily use a QR code to share a specific page, a particular digital album or track, a physical product available for purchase, details of an upcoming show, and more.
With that ease of sharing in mind, here are 5 ways you can use QR Codes to promote your music:
1. On posters and printed promotional material
This is probably the most common way a QR Code is used. Anything printed, like a poster or sticker, can be really eye-catching, but if someone has to manually copy down a web address you displayed there, you risk having the URL go unnoticed (and unvisited).
By including a QR code on the item, you’re allowing viewers to use their built-in smartphone camera to scan the code, which then opens the web browser on their device and loads the exact page you’d like them to see, without them typing anything! So if you want to make your printed material digitally engaging this is absolutely the way to go.
To really get people excited and engaged, you can provide a QR code to a free track download on the poster for your upcoming show, or hand out a creatively designed sticker or business card. For example, consider creating a QR code that leads to a page of Smart Links. Those links can lead people to each platform where they can stream or purchase your music (Spotify, Bandcamp, Beatstars, etc – and your own website!), and you can include that QR code on any printed material you’d like.
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2. On merchandise
When I was just getting started out as a musician (way back in the pre-smartphone olden days), there was a band from the UK called Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, and they had the absolute BEST tour shirts. I had zero idea what the band sounded like, but I’ll tell you, I saw their shirts everywhere, and I became their fan just from the swag everyone was wearing.
I know it sounds a bit like buying wine based on the label, but they really were insanely cool shirts, so I made a point of grabbing their album the next time I visited a music store, and from then on I was hooked on their music and saw them play every time they came back.
The point of my story is: for a musician, a purchase of your merch isn’t just a one-time financial contribution by a fan who saw you play and liked your music. It’s more than that: when that fan strolls out of their house humming your single and wearing your shirt or hat, that fan also becomes a walking billboard for you everywhere they go.
Merchandise can draw attention to your music from others who may know nothing about you at first. But after seeing your awesome swag, they may want to know you more!
So consider putting a strategically-placed QR code on every piece of merchandise you sell —shirts, hats, CDs, wherever it fits. Just be sure that it’s in a place that’s easy for someone to scan with their smartphone. This QR code could be directing them to your site for example, so they can really learn more about your music and what you do (beyond having an awesome sense for fashion and merch!).
3. At your shows
Remember when I mentioned that many restaurants now use a QR code menu? You can transfer that similar principle to your live shows: have a QR code printed on tickets for free downloads, or taped to the merch table to direct visitors to join your mailing list or stream your latest album..
You could use QR codes from your store feature as a ‘swag menu’, right at the merch table. Visitors can then scan the QR code for a product, where they’re directed to your site and they can complete a purchase online for the item.
Know what your set list is for the night? Print off QR code setlists, where each song in the list has its own code. Then hand out that sheet at the door before you play. When a listener hears that new single they can just scan it from the setlist to download or purchase your music.
4. On a website page
QR codes can really be used anywhere — even on screens! So if you’re Photoshop savvy, you can add QR codes to things like promo images on your site, or just upload a QR code image directly to a landing page — anywhere you think would be good for promotion.
“But Adam” you might ask, “how do I use my camera to scan a QR code on a website on my phone browser?”
Good question! Android users can now just use ‘Google Lens’ to scan right ‘in phone’, and Apple’s ‘Live Text’ will scan a code from an image you have saved in their Photos app. So a QR code doesn’t have to be limited to the physical world — you can also use them online to connect to your music.
5. In digital content
You can use QR codes in your videos too! For instance on YouTube: just edit in a QR code at the start or end of a video for viewers to grab. Use it as an incentive to get visitors to view the video all the way through.
Services like TikTok have slideshow options for images, or even have a ‘sticker’ option where you can add a custom sticker image (like a QR Code) to a video, and Instagram has options to layer images over reels and stories really easily.
QR codes: promo power made simple
If you’re putting together a promotional campaign for your music, consider using the humble QR code liberally.
Not only are QR codes really easy to generate (and Bandzoogle includes them within all our share tools), they also can be implemented across all different types of media, and are extremely effective at crossing between the digital and print worlds. Win-win for all your promotions!
