Fans and follow-up
QR codes for musicians: where to put them and what they should open
Where a musician's QR code should go at a gig, what it should open when scanned, how big to print it and how to make sure it scans in a dark, crowded room.
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Half ten, and you're coiling cables. A couple who've been at the front table all night come over. "We loved that. When are you on next?" You say it's here again in a fortnight, a Friday, you think, and they should follow you on Instagram. One of them says they'll look you up.
They won't. Not because they didn't mean it. By Tuesday they've forgotten your name, and the post about the Friday gig lands in a feed they scroll past in a second. The fortnight comes round, and the front table is full of people who've never heard you before.
Those two were the easiest audience you'll ever have. They'd already seen you, liked you and asked. All you had to do was make the date stick.
Why "follow us" doesn't fill a room
A follow is a weak promise. It costs nothing, and then the platform decides whether they ever see your posts. A gig announcement is one post among hundreds that day, and it's gone by the weekend.
What brings someone back is simpler: on the day of the gig, they remember it's on, and they still want to go. The first half is a memory problem. The second half you've already solved by playing well.
So the job at the gig isn't collecting followers. It's putting the date somewhere they'll see it again at the right time. Their own calendar is the obvious place. It reminds them on the day, it sits next to their other plans, and it doesn't depend on anyone's feed.
Put the next date where they're already looking
People at a gig look at three things: you, their table and their phone. The next date should be on all three.
- The mic stand. A card with a QR code that opens a page listing your upcoming gigs. Anyone curious scans it during the set.
- The tables. A table card with the next date printed on it, plus the same code. Write the date large. "Here again Friday 3rd" does more than a list of six gigs in small type.
- Their phone. Once they scan, the page should show the next gig first, with the time and the address, and a button to add it to their calendar.
Here's how the usual places compare:
| Where the date lives | Who sees it | How long it sticks | Effort for you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Said from the stage | Whoever's listening at that moment | Usually until the end of the night | None |
| Social media post | Followers the platform chooses to show it to | A day or two | One post per gig |
| Poster in the venue | The venue's regulars | Until the gig, if it stays up | Ask the venue, print it |
| Page opened from a QR code | Anyone who scans at the gig or later | As long as you keep it up to date | Update when dates change |
| Their own calendar | Them, with a reminder | Until the day | One tap for them, once the page offers it |
The last two rows are the ones that do the work. The others help, but they rely on memory or on a feed.
Printing the code well matters more than it sounds. It has to scan from a table in stage light. There's a practical guide to size, placement and testing in QR codes for musicians.
Make saving the date one tap
If saving the date means typing it into a calendar by hand, most people won't. It needs to be one button, and the calendar entry needs everything they'll want on the day:
- The venue name and full address, so the map works.
- The start time of your set, not the time the doors open, if they differ.
- Your act's name, spelt the way they'll recognise it.
- Anything they need to know: free entry, ticketed, book a table.
For a weekly residency, say so plainly on the page and on the table cards: "Every Thursday, 8.30pm." A residency is the easiest thing in the world to come back to, as long as people know it's weekly. Otherwise people assume the band they saw was a one-off.
Keep the page current. A list with last month's gigs at the top tells people you've stopped playing. Delete past dates, or have them drop off automatically, and add new ones the day you confirm them.
Say it from the stage, twice
A code on the mic stand does nothing if nobody knows what it's for. Say the next date out loud, twice:
- Just before the break. People are about to pick up their phones anyway. "We're back in fifteen minutes. We're also here every Thursday. The code on the mic stand has the dates, and you can pop it in your calendar."
- Before the last song. Not after it, when people are finding coats. "Thanks for tonight. Next one's Friday the 3rd, same place. Scan the code on your table and it'll go straight in your calendar."
Keep it short, give the actual date, and point at the code as you say it. "Follow us" is vague. "Friday the 3rd" is a plan.
Give them a reason to come back
A date in the calendar gets them thinking about it. A reason gets them out of the house.
- The song you didn't know. When someone requests a song you can't play, say you'll learn it for next time, then do. They'll come back to hear it, and bring whoever they were with. How to take song requests at a gig covers saying no nicely and turning it into a "next week".
- Something different. A themed set, a guest singer, an acoustic first half. It doesn't need to be big. It needs to be a thing they'd miss.
- The residency itself. A regular slot builds a regular crowd. If your set list takes requests, the room shapes the night a little, and people like coming back to something they had a hand in. Building a covers set list that takes requests shows how to plan for that.
Stay in their ears between gigs
Between gigs, the best reminder of you is your music. Put your streaming and social links on the same page as the dates: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, Instagram, TikTok, wherever you actually post. Someone who adds your EP to a playlist on the night hears you again on the bus the following week, and the next gig feels like seeing someone they know.
Only link what you keep up. A dormant account with three posts from two years ago does more harm than no link at all.
Check what worked, honestly
After a few gigs, look at what you can measure, and be careful what you read into it.
| What you can count | What it tells you | What it doesn't tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Scans of each printed code | Which placement people notice | Who turned up next time |
| Page views | How many times the page was opened | How many different people saw it |
| Taps on add-to-calendar | Someone meant to save the date | That they came |
| Heads in the room at the next gig | Whether the room grew | Why it grew |
| "Were you here last time?" | Straight answers from real people | Anything about the people who didn't come |
Scans are not attendance, and clicks are not followers. The simplest honest check is to ask from the stage: "Who was here last time?" A few hands going up where there were none a month ago tells you more than any number on a screen.
If the table cards get scanned and the mic stand card doesn't, move the mic stand one or make it bigger. If nobody scans anything, you probably haven't said what the code is for.
And if people are scanning anyway, it's worth letting them say thanks while they're there. Taking tips without cash covers that side.
Where GigTag fits
GigTag puts one QR code on your mic stand and table cards that opens a page with your upcoming gigs and weekly residencies, an add-to-calendar button and your streaming and social links. Fans scan it with their camera, with no app and no account. See how it works for musicians, then Create your act