Beatsy App Clip Codes
If you’re in the Seattle area and happen to stumble across a pink sticker that looks like the above, give it a quick scan with the iOS Code Scanner app. It should pull up Beatsy and let you start visualizing sounds recorded by your phone’s microphone using augmented reality. You don’t even need to install anything, thanks to App Clips!
Where these App Clips really get interesting though is that Beatsy also supports unique app clip codes tied to a specific song and set of AR visualizer settings. The AR visualizer effect gets automatically applied to the location of the App Clip code in the real world.
This could be a neat way to distribute music. It both links the music to a specific location and makes finding the App Clip code part of the experience. It makes discovering music physical, potentially even a little more communal too. I imagine that musicians could use customized app clip codes to hype an upcoming release or event. Or maybe an artist could create site specific pieces that are only meant to be listened to in a specific setting. Hell, if MiniDiscs are still a thing in 2021, then using stickers to distribute music isn’t that much of a stretch.
Demo music from 猫 シ Corp.
Now you could always sort of do this using QR Codes, however QR codes usually just link to websites. Yawn. Beatsy’s goal is to instead use App Clip codes to launch an experience. Besides the audio, you also get AR effects that respond to the music. A bass heavy song for example may cause the ground to thump up and down in response to the music, while a trippy song could make a wall start visually melting and distorting. Again, these effects are automatically applied to the physical surface where the app clip code is placed.
If you’re a musician and are interested in the concept of sharing music using stickers linked to AR effects, let me know and I can set up a custom app clip code for you to use. I’d love to see what people do with this concept. And if you ever do see one of the Beatsy codes around town, give it a scan and see what you discover. Hopefully I’ll still be able to find a few dry spots around the city to hide them.