QR Codes

So we enabled QR codes, which are a form of barcode, on the desktop and mobile versions of bln.kr.

For me, this is more of an experiment than anything. We believe in giving artists the tools to share the music they make, and I’m curious if any of our artists can come up with a creative way to use scannable QR codes to share their music.

Off the top of my head:

Artists could copy and paste their track’s QR code and put it on a show flier or business card.

Venues could print a QR code of each artist performing that night on the playbills they post.

Music magazines could print a QR code of the artist they are featuring.

Artists could incorporate their QR codes into a t shirt design.

On mobile, listeners could easily share songs by scanning the QR code.

I fully realize that the current state of scanning on smartphones isn’t that great. The cameras don’t always capture the codes, the code analysis is slow. By the time I fire up a scanning app, scan the code, and wait for it to push me to the track on bln.kr, I could have just typed in the short code in my browser and be listening to the track.

BUT, the pace of mobile computing advancement is staggering, and we can see a time when scanning is immediate and actually more convenient than typing.

So we are providing QR codes to our artists in the hope that they can be used creatively today and just in case we all end up living in a barcoded world someday.

I would love to get your thoughts on QR codes on bln.kr. Are they useful? Are they in the way?

And while we are at it, what other emerging technologies can we leverage to make sharing your music more innovative?