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Travis Scott: First-ever artist to use drones to release new music

Travis Scott is often hailed as the music industry’s unofficial king of elaborate promotional stunts. And judging by what went down at the Rolling Loud music festival in Miami last weekend, we’ll have to agree. The rapper got 250 drones to form a scannable QR code during his concert set, which directed fans to a Spotify pre-save link for his new single “Escape Plan.”

The music industry has been using drones to create stunning cinematic videos and to amplify the live concert experience for quite some time now. But this is the first instance when an artist has used a drone QR code display to drop new music.

And the good folks at Rolling Loud, who were welcoming fans after a two-year COVID-induced break, couldn’t be happier. As Tariq Cherif, the co-founder and co-CEO of the music fest, says:

Everyone knows Travis is one of the best performers in the game, but on Saturday night he took it to another level. Dropping new music and giving fans direct access to the song through a drone installation is unheard of and Travis made it happen! Rolling Loud fans cheered and took out their phones to capture the moment and scan the QR code, marking the beginning of a new era of live performances. What a way to bring back live music!

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The feat was made possible through MilkMoney, a Los Angeles-based adtech platform that Travis has been known to rely on for various album releases. We got in touch with company founder and CEO, Sam Keywanfar, and he told us that MilkMoney has been working on several other campaigns as well that utilize drones and QR technology:

This is the future of OOH/outdoor advertising, and the music industry will certainly embrace this. Now that QR codes have finally hit the mainstream, we’re proud to have infused drone and QR code technology to provide a fully immersive experience for Travis Scott fans.

DroneDJ’s take

Well, we can’t say we didn’t see it coming. It was only a few months ago that 1,500 drones formed a giant scannable QR code in the Shanghai sky and prompted users to install a video game on their smartphones. Drone QR codes are cool, and they get the job done.

Drone shows anyway are the perfect intersection of art, science, technology, and, of course, marketing. The credit for popularizing them, in part, goes to Intel, which has performed drone light shows for some of the biggest brands on the world’s largest stages, the most recent being the revolving globe display at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

If you like drone light shows, you should check out:

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Avatar for Ishveena Singh Ishveena Singh

Ishveena Singh is a versatile journalist and writer with a passion for drones and location technologies. She has been named as one of the 50 Rising Stars of the geospatial industry for the year 2021 by Geospatial World magazine.