Thursday 31 May 2012

Want a free QR Code to promote your band?

This post was originally meant to be part of one of my regular posts, but due to the size of the one that's imminent and the amount of info I'm about to share, I decided this was worthy of a post on its own.

Essentially I want to try an experiment. So I have an offer for all you musicians/bands out there. I've been playing around with QR code generation recently and I'm wondering if any of you would like one done for free for you to use on your promotional materials.

But let's backtrack a second and answer a few questions.

What the heck is a QR Code and why would I want one?
A QR Code is essentially a 2D barcode which can link to a webpage, some text or an image (amongst other things). If you have a mobile phone which has Internet access, a camera and can download apps, you can basically take a picture of this code and it will take you to whatever is encoded within that barcode (On Android I use an app called Codee Reader, but you'll also find many other QR code reader apps to download, even if you have an iPhone or Windows phone). Here's the wikipedia link if you want to read a more detailed description of QR Codes.

As for why you'd want one as a musician? Well for starters, you know those phones all your (especially younger) fans are carrying around and probably recording your concert on as well as taking pictures while they're there? How about using the fact those phones are there to help you get useful information and interest from (and about) the people using them in order to help convert them into fans? How about rewarding fans who turned up?

So here's a few ideas of what you could do, but I'm sure you can think of more once I've given you the idea. And if you have a phone with a QR Code reader installed, then the example codes I've provided should give you an even better idea of how things work in practice and could apply to you and your existing sites/profiles as they all link to real, live web content.

1. You currently have either a sheet of paper or a computer sitting on your merch table so that people can sign up to your mailing list. And maybe you've got a queue of people who want to use it (some of whom maybe don't bother because they get fed up with the wait). Wouldn't it be much easier if  people could just point their phones at a poster and were automatically directed to the mailing list signup form on your website so that they could fill it in at their leisure on their own phones? No queue and/or you don't have to cope with their appalling handwriting! Even better, because they're signing up in the same way as if they had browsed to your website on a computer, they'll get any auto-responder/greeting messages your site sends. Whilst you shouldn't throw away the pen and paper just yet, a QR Code could still make life a bit easier.






2. Get someone handing out flyers with a QR Code on during your gig. The QR code links to a free track or some other exclusive content they can download  - obviously make sure your flyer contains that statement!

a) Direct download example






b) Same thing but via webpage






3. Provide a link to a page which contains a short summary of information about you and a player with some of your music for people to listen to, in order to serve as an introduction to people who are hearing you for the first time and want to find out more. They can do so there and then without having to remember (or find) the information when they get home.






Obviously, for many cases, if what you're linking to has been set up in a mobile-friendly site/page, then it will make it even easier for the user.

Sounds interesting. What do I need to provide and what do I get?
Well for starters you'll need to email me the following info, so that I have an address to mail the finished code back to. You'll need to give me:

a) The link to what the person scanning the code will see. Ideally this should be accessible. i.e. the last thing anyone will want to see when they scan your code will be a login prompt, whether that be for your website or an external site like facebook. And yes, that means it doesn't have to be your own website, but could be your profile on  soundcloud, facebook, youtube (pretty much you name it really) for wherever you want to send people.

b) An idea of your size requirements depending on where you're thinking of using it.
i) small e.g. suitable for business card/postcard/CD liner
ii) medium e.g. suitable for A4/A5/flyers
iii) large e.g. suitable for larger posters

c) If you have a preferred graphics format for the code image to make it easier to add into your other graphics e.g. BMP, JPG, PNG etc. (I should be able to provide most formats you or your graphic artist can think of)

You may need to provide some additional data if one of the options I mention elsewhere in this post interests you, but in the majority of cases the above is all that's needed.

Obviously, what you'll get back by email will be an image of the QR Code at a size that should be appropriate to use (and will work as-is without having to worry too much about scaling) where you're aiming to use it.

How soon will I get my QR code?
In theory the same day and usually within an hour or so of me picking the message up, providing I can test the code against the link so I can be happy it works before I send it to you. In practice, it's going to depend on how many requests I get and what else I'm doing (allowing for timezone as I'm in the UK), but they're not that difficult to create. I'm working on the assumption here that most of you would rather spend time creating music than learning how to do this yourself using one of the free tools or programs available, and you either have no access to someone who can create these, or someone wants to charge you for the privilege.

And you'll create that for free and send it to me? Seriously, you must want something?
Well actually I do. I'm thinking of starting a "QR Code of the month" section on my blog in which I'll feature one of the codes I've created for an artist, along with any other relevant info/background story as part of the post. Obviously whether I can will depend on whether there's any demand out there in the first place, both for the codes and for the chance of that little bit of extra free promotion. If you land up surprising me and overwhelming my inbox with requests on a month by month basis, I do have a backup plan which will allow me to feature more than the planned one per post, but I'll cross that bridge if it happens. If you are planning to use the code for something which is time sensitive (e.g. a free download to coincide with a launch party for a new album) then just let me know the earliest date you'd be happy for me to display your code when you email me the rest of the information. If that still isn't enough for you and you still want to give me something for my time, then I'm the kind of person who appreciates the unexpected in that case, so do what you do best and get creative in solving that problem.

Can I only have one code?
At the moment, the plan would be a maximum of one free code per artist per month. If demand is such that not many artists are interested, but they'd be happy with more frequent codes than this, then I'll probably relax the restriction. Likewise if my inbox goes seriously nuts, I may have to reduce the frequency with which I can offer codes to artists, as I'm only human and do need to do other important things like eat and sleep occasionally! At the end of the day, it's really up to you people out there to show me whether there's any demand for this offer and what exactly that level of demand is.

Does the QR Code have to be black and white?
Actually no. Providing the two colours involved have enough contrast between them, a QR code reader can still pick them up. My husband used a red and white QR code on the posters for his recent sponsored haircut. You can also potentially have one colour on top of an image - take a look at Bill Cosby's Twitter page icon for an example of that (white is the overlay colour and scanning the icon leads to the ability to download his free app) - but it will obviously depend on the image as to whether there's enough contrast for the overlaying colour to work. So if you're interested in something other than the standard black and white code, let me know. I don't have enough experience yet to be able to say straight off whether a particular combination will work or not, but if you don't mind helping me find out where the limits are, I can almost certainly sort you out with something either pretty close or spot on to your original idea.

I've got another question
If there's anything else you want to know first (the good old "Can I do this?" type requests come to mind for starters) then either email me or leave a comment on this post (depending on how useful you think the answer to your question would be to others) and I'll get back to you.

Let the filling of my inbox commence, and I'll see you back in my next regular update..