It’s amazing how quickly Spotify became a powerful music streaming platform for millennials. Daniel Ek founded the platform in 2006 with the main goal of stopping people from stealing music and helping artists get more fair pay. And now? It currently has over 433 million monthly active users spread across more than 100 markets.
Spotify’s major draw as a global music streaming platform comes from the intersection of listeners and artists themselves. Users can listen to their favorite artists, whereas musicians can create playlists, promote their music, and engage with their fans in a more effective way.
And because of its simple and convenient format, Spotify hosts nearly all top singers and songwriters, as well as smaller and local artists, on its platform. The platform ultimately provides these up-and-coming artists with a field of musical opportunity for new and young musicians, where they may set up their account and hopefully be discovered by as many listeners as possible.
Spotify’s algorithm does some of the promotional work for new music automatically by presenting it to people who like similar music. Another key for new musicians, however, is to get listeners back into the Spotify app directly to a specific track, album, or artist profile.
Of course, this is a difficult accomplishment to do on one’s own, which is why most musicians use various social media advertising to open the Spotify app directly to tracks, albums, playlists, and artists. These advertisements can be placed on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
But what about outside of the online realm of social media? Many times artists expand their reach by performing at small, local venues, and even find themselves busking on busy street corners to maximize their exposure. And while these tactics do help increase the number of ears exposed to this new music, how can an artist ensure that they’ve gained a fan who will follow their career and stream their songs?
While there’s no real clear-cut answer to this question, we have the perfect, out-of-the-box solution to your offline Spotify marketing efforts: dynamic QR codes.
Of course, almost everyone is aware of the typical QR code and how to use it. However, many (if not most) people may be perplexed by the term ‘dynamic.’ A dynamic QR code differs from a standard QR code in that you, as the marketer or agency, can direct the scan’s location. You can also modify the destination once the QR code has been printed and is in production.
So, if something changes after the QR code has been printed that makes it necessary to change it, or if you just want to try sending people to a different track on that new album, you can change dynamic QR codes without breaking the scanning experience or having to reprint the code. Furthermore, dynamic QR codes allow you to consider the lifecycle of your QR codes over time and treat them as a business asset that generates your first-party data (which they are!).
Imagine this: a new artist is playing a gig at a local cafe or bar and has a small display set up (potentially along with physical copies of their album) with all of their social media handles printed for new fans to follow. But how often do people use CDs to listen to their favorite artists’ music? In 2022, we know the answer. Not many.
We all know this—most people are listening to songs and albums on music streaming platforms like Spotify, so why not jump on the opportunity to send listeners directly to your profile or album with a quick scan and get that listener directly to the track you want them to hear?
This tactic makes keeping up-to-date with your upcoming shows and albums easier for new listeners as convenient as possible. And since people are used to scanning QR codes in everyday situations— such as at restaurants or retail stores— it’s pretty much a guarantee for growing your followers and increasing your streams.
We’re pretty convinced that we’ve convinced you at this point, so let’s get into how you can easily create a Spotify QR code to grow your audience.
Need to generate a Spotify QR code for an artist’s track or playlist? Easy. At URLgenius, we’ve perfected the process— you don’t need any technical resources, and there’s nothing to install. Let’s get started at the URLgenius home page.
To create your own QR code for your print marketing, you start with the link to the Spotify content (artist, track, album, playlist). Paste the link into the URLgenius homepage to update the link and create the Spotify QR code. The updated link is the link that the user will see when they scan your QR code, and you can even use the artist’s domain for your QR link— which we recommend (if you have the artist’s permission of course!).
Notice that you are given the option to customize the end of the URL in order to align it with your campaign. This will also help you find the link in your list of links in the URLgenius dashboard. For example, here we’ve pasted the link to this artist’s Spotify profile. We then went ahead and changed the end of the URL after the backslash to make it align with the campaign.
Next, simply select “Compose” and you’ll be taken to the settings page for your app deep link and Spotify QR code, where you can control the settings and download it in different formats for your graphic designer.
Notice in the settings that you have a ‘Routing’ tab where you can change the destination of the code, and that includes a few other advanced settings. You can also check to see how many times the code has been scanned and how many times the app has been opened.
Click “QR Settings” to download your custom Instagram QR code. On the app deep link settings page, when you click the “QR Settings” button, you will be taken to the page that allows you to download the code. You can also change the color and logo.
Before downloading the code, make sure it is set to the right density—this will ultimately affect your visitor’s ability to scan the code. Contact us if you need help setting up the QR code in terms of its density, size, color, logo, and placement.
Pro Tip: QR codes are easy to create, but it’s easy to get something wrong and make the code unscannable. Whether you’re using the code for television, print, email, packaging, or retail displays; all QR codes need to be optimized for design, size, density, channel, and placement.
Make sure to check out our QR Experience Playbook and QR Code Strategy Guide to learn more about the common mistakes and what to consider with regard to apps, websites, and QR analytics.
Also, if you need to create personalized QR codes for Spotify or any other app, URLgenius has an API. We can even create them for you and send them directly to the printer! We are QR code experts, so don’t hesitate to contact us for advice.
URLgenius will track scans separately from clicks, which is helpful when you’re using the QR code and the link in a multi-channel campaign. Tracking scans is a great way to enhance your first-party data over time as you increase your understanding of how your customers and prospects like to engage with your brand. Contact us to discuss your reporting requirements.
The following chart shows the volume of Instagram app opens by platform and device. The app open rate tells you what percentage of people who scanned had the Spotify app installed for iOS and Android.
This chart shows scans by city and separately by language preference. These anonymous insights help you figure out where and how to focus your campaign, both in terms of geography and language.
Pro Tip: Check your spending during the month at any time by clicking “Settings.” Just be aware that there is a one-hour delay in reporting.
You’ve invested a lot of time and energy into your music and artistry, so doesn’t it make sense that you give it your all to being found by potential fans?
We are always here to help you with your Spotify advertising campaigns! Contact us with questions at info@urlgeni.us about dynamic Spotify QR codes and deep links.
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