Smart Band Uses Smart Phones to Build Audience

Sept. 20, 2010 - PRLog -- Rock concert posters have been a staple of the live music scene since the fifties. From the psychedelic art of the 60s through DIY grunge aesthetic of the nineties to the Facebook e-flyers of today, posters have always been an essential piece of the promotional pie for bands of all levels.  
Minneapolis natives, Faces & Radio are taking the medium one step further by incorporating one of the latest trends in smart phone, QR Codes. Potential audience members who see the poster can use their smart phones to scan the digital code with one a numerous scanner apps. After scanning it, they’re taken to the band’s website, which has been optimized for mobile viewing, where you can hear, see and contact the band right there.
The members of Faces & Radio have always marketed themselves differently than most local groups. Rather than treating it like another band, they’ve rolled out comprehensive marketing campaigns that have more in common with the launch of a new television program or art gallery, as opposed to a weekend music concert. This unorthodox approach has allowed them to make considerable progress in a very short amount of time. The latest page in their promotional book has turned heads and according to the band, is directly responsible for the impressive turn out to their last few shows.
A QR Code is a type of barcode, readable by QR scanners, which can accessed on most smart phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information contained in the code can vary from text, URL to other data. QR Codes storing addresses and URLs have been appearing more and more in magazines, on signs, buses, and business cards. Users with phones equipped with the correct reader application can scan the image of the QR Code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the phone's browser.
Another step Faces & Radio has taken is something they call, “social media crossover”. In comic books, a crossover is when one storyline is shared by multiple titles.  Faces & Radio have produced a collection of short web videos that viewers follow from their website to their Facebook pages and ending with personal email message attachments. The different platforms drive traffic to their various pages and keep the viewers engaged by giving them something to do besides just watch.
With new vocalist Whitney Hicks and a debut EP scheduled for release this winter, Faces & Radio is aggressively stepping up its promotional efforts in an attempt to stay ahead of the curve and attract more fans.

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About Faces & Radio:
Hailing from the Twin Cities, Faces & Radio blends incomparable vocals with intricate, indie pop-rock arrangements. Mixing the layered elements of The Cure, the subversive riffs of The Velvet Underground, a bit of Zeppelin-esque, British blues and heavy dose of Motown soul, Faces & Radio lends a new wave sensibility to straight up rock, rhythm and blues. With standout tracks like "Waiting" and “All These Things I Know” the music of Faces & Radio blurs genre lines and appeals to fans all over the musical spectrum. Borrowing heavily from funk, metal, jazz, blues, folk and even classical, the sound of Faces & Radio is simultaneously timeless and current, familiar and fresh, exciting and comforting.