QMCODES mobile code benefits for musicians

For independent musicians, the most inexpensive way of doing marketing and promotion is through print.  Show posters, flyers, hand bills, post cards, CD covers, and business cards are all relatively affordable ways of reaching out to fans.  Musicians on very low budgets can even print out their own marketing content from their home printers.  Even artists with bigger budgets still take full advantage of print marketing. 

QMCODES claims it is bridging this grass roots style of marketing with the new digital content model.  Using digital barcodes, fans can read an article in their favorite music magazine, use their cell phone’s onboard camera to scan a “mobile hyperlink” that is included on the page, and instantly be linked to further relevant online mobile content.

For example, you might read a review on an artist’s newly released album in your local paper, and instantly on your phone you can bring up the music video for the title track if the artists has included a barcode on their promotional photo.

Right now this technology is mostly be used in Japan, Australia, and France, says CEO of QMCODES, Antony McGregor Dey.  He expects within the next year carriers in the United States will be adding the software needed to read the barcode information, to their mobile handsets.

QMCODES is using this technology, as well as SMS, to promote mobile media, especially for the entertainment industry.   Right now as an independent artist, I can upload my videos to MediaQ, which is QMCODES video platform, and instantly receive a link to my mobile adjusted video.  Then I can take that link, put it through Qlytics, and instantly receive my barcode image for that mobile video.  I can either text the url out to my fans, and they can then view my mobilized video from their smartphones, or they can text in to a keyword themselves, and in return receive a url to the video.  That way those without smartphones can still gain the information needed to go view my video online.  QMCODES provides this service for free for non-commercial use, so this is a perfect tool for unsigned independent artists. 

For companies looking to make use of the technology, QMCODES focuses on enabling all of your offline media.  They will set you up with a mobile site, make sure all your media content is accessible through mobile, and provide you with analytics to better understand your mobile customers.  Not only will you be able to see which marketing touch points viewers are accessing your “mobile hyperlinks” from, you can see which carriers’ users are more responsive, where the viewers are, what they did while they were on your mobile site, where they came from, how many unique views, and how long they viewed for. 

McGregor Dey says they plan to release a DIY platform in the next 2 to 3 months, so individual users can create template driven mobile sites.  This feature also would be monumental to independent artists.

What do we think?
Catering to people who need mobile sites but can’t afford to pay for professionals, is going to benefit musicians greatly.  As music is going mobile, the mobile market itself needs to be accessible to the independent musicians.  The quality of site may not be the same as if you are a company able to pay QMCODES for their services, but at least it gives the average “Joe the Strummer” a chance to gain a mobile presence, and created an interactive experience for their fans, even if only being covered in the local “Springfield Times”, readership 300 people!

The technology itself, will enhance experiences for fans, and the analytics provided will allow for artists, bands, and record labels to better understand what content fans are really interested in, who those fans are, and ultimately how to do a better job at making them happy campers!