"Scan Barcode to download MP3" - Can this be done?

[Andy McBain]

Hi all! I didn't know where to put this question... but it is Mobile related so here goes.

I'm designing a poster for a friend's band. He has his heart set on a QR barcode, which somehow download a free MP3 track to the users mobile phone.

Initially, my thoughts were to create a simple QR link to 'http://www.blablabla.co.uk/blablabla.mp3" ... but really, I want the file to be stored on somewhere like Bandcamp, or Soundcloud so that it all looks nice and legit. It would seem that Bandcamp and Soundcloud don't really support mobile downloads in this way though, and I can't coax a direct link to the MP3 out of them either.

Has anyone done this before or have any possible solutions to this? I'm starting to think it might be easier to generate an e-mail link to the download when the QR code is accessed... but that doesn't solve the problem that the client wants it 'mobile'.

Thanks in advance!

[chris...]

Initially, my thoughts were to create a simple QR link to 'http://www.blablabla.co.uk/blablabla.mp3" ... but really, I want the file to be stored on somewhere like Bandcamp, or Soundcloud so that it all looks nice and legit.

So long as the link is to an mp3 on the band's own website, then what's the problem ?

[Hoopy Frood]

If I'm reading the OP correctly, the problem isn't that he doesn't know to create a QR code - it's a question of whether or not Soundcloud et al support a url link that goes straight to the "download this mp3" page.

I don't know the answer to that, but I'd have thought it better to have the QR code link go straight to the artist homepage in any case - does the Soundcloud mobile site support autoplay? If so, you'd get the same effect (albeit streaming rather than download) and have the benefit that the QR link on the poster will still work in the future, even if the actual tracks on Soundcloud are changed about or deleted. Also, the punter will have relevant info in his or her face immediately upon scanning the QR code, as the track begins to play.