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By admin, March 3, 2010 12:16 pm

Found this cool guide on how Musicians and Bands should use Twitter, very informational.

Twitter For Musicians and Bands: A How-To Guide

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By admin, January 14, 2010 10:29 am

When people print your own discs at home, they usually use a sticker label that can feed through an ink-jet printer. So when people call in about a CD or DVD project they think that we might be doing the same.

Since we are doing much more then a few discs at a time we use more professional means of printing directly on the discs. We use four different types of printing - Prism, Everest, Silkscreen and Offset printing.

Prism (Black Text Imprint) -
The Prism printer is used for short run projects with a black text based imprint. Images or detailed graphics don’t print on the Prism, so your best bet is using text and if you have a simple all solid black logo that will work as well. This also prints the best on the silver surface of the disc.

Everest (Full Color Thermal) –
This is another one of our short run printers, but the Everest prints full color onto the disc. This works best for printing full color images onto the disc face. The Everest is great for photos and detailed logos and graphics. It doesn’t work great for large areas of solid black however, so when designing for the Everest think of full color images and colors on the lighter end of the spectrum.

Silk Screen (1-3 color)
Silk Screen printing on disc, is used for medium to large runs, 500 and up. Silk Screen works great for solid colors and uses the Pantone Color Matching system (see below for more info) for inks when printing. Silk Screen designs are better when they are simple and straightforward and you want to stay away from items like gradients and detailed graphics or photos.

Offset Printing (Full Color CMYK printing)
Offset printing is our full color option for medium to large runs. Great for photos and complex graphics, Offset printing is similar in detail and clarity as full color paper printing. This printing method is however not great for large areas of solid colors.

Some things to think about when designing your imprint -

Matching paper print to your disc imprint -
If you are using a similar color from your paper print on your disc imprint, due to the different nature of imprint surfaces and paper it is difficult to get a spot on match. We do our best to match them, but expect some variance in the colors.

Designing imprints in Photoshop –
While Photoshop is  a great photo editing tool, it isn’t the best program for text. Illustrator and Indesign are much better at handling text and your text will be much cleaner. If you have to design your imprint in Photoshop, you might want to stay away from any real small text or text with thin lines. It’s not such a big deal when doing Offset or Everest Printing, but when doing Silk Screen printing it can effect the print quality.

Pantone Color Matching System -
When Silk Screen Printing we use inks from the Pantone Matching System. If your not familiar with Pantone Colors and you design your Silk Screen imprint with CMYK colors we can pick a Pantone Color that closely represents your color. However some CMYK colors don’t translate as well, so starting with Pantone colors does work the best.

If you have any questions about your imprint or setting up your artwork, feel free to call the Copycats art department with questions or concerns we would be glad to help you out. Just call 612-371-8008 or 888-698-8008 and ask for the Art Department. Or you can ask your salesperson and they will you in touch with us.

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By admin, March 23, 2009 1:03 pm

Posted by Chris Brummund

Actually, it’s less than a penny.  More like $0.000000275 pennies for a Rick Roll (if you don’t know what a Rick Roll is, then click here for an example.  That probably didn’t help.  Click here just to read the Wikipedia entry.  Now do you get it?  Good.  Let’s move on).  I read a blog that found an interesting story involving the Rick Roll and payments from Google/YouTube.  Here’s a quick recap: 

1.  Old ’80s music video played on YouTube becomes internet “sensation” and attracts millions of views

2.  Performing artist in this said video enjoys resurgence in popularity and even earns an MTV Europe VMA because of it

3.  Co-author of song, Pete Waterman, receives very little shared revenue from music video being played on YouTube

4.  Waterman complains about the lack of revenue earned from music video being played on YouTube

So where do you side on this arguement?  Should this guy be paid more for this song being played so many times on YouTube?  The blogger linked above doesn’t think so, and he/she makes three great points:

• This video most likely loses money for Google
• This song writer didn’t have to lift a finger to earn that $11 (actually, it’s pounds, but I’m not sure how to type that symbol) and wouldn’t even have the money if it weren’t for YouTube
• Ads on this video are nearly worthless since most people who were “Rick Rolled” don’t actually watch the whole video or interact with the ads, especially if they’ve fallen for this joke before

Waterman grumbles that now nobody will buy this music because they can listen to it for free on YouTube.  That’s somewhat true,  but do you think most of the people who stumbled upon it on YouTube would have purchased a Rick Astley album anyway?  Would they even know who Rick Astley is if it weren’t for this goofy internet/blogging phenomenon?  Probably not.  So does he think that YouTube should charge everytime somebody links up or embeds a music video?  Then nobody would be “Rick Rolled,” YouTube and Google would still be making billions, Rick Astley would not have won an MTV Europe Video Music Award, and Pete Waterman’s bank account would be without 11 pounds.

I think he sees YouTube/Google making billions of dollars and believes his song contributes a larger chunk to that profit then it actually does.  I can see where he may make that false assumption.  There’s quite a bit of copyrighted material on YouTube that makes it a popular destination for some internet surfers.  If the site only consisted of wacky home videos, the traffic may take a significant hit.  However, it would still be wildly popular as the vast majority of videos are independently made and not copyrighted. 

YouTube (and especially Google) is a website where the sum is greater than the parts.  There is not one record company/movie studio/TV network or even all of them combined that are that important to YouTube’s survival.  There are copyrighted videos pulled from the site constantly, yet YouTube’s popularity still grows.  The number of bands, artists, business’s, etc. who believe they benefit from having their material on YouTube far outnumbers those who believe it hurts them.

Rick Astley or whoever controls the rights to that song could have had YouTube pull the video, but they didn’t.  Now if somebody happened to feel the urge to purchase this track, there are plenty of opportunities to do so from the various widgets on the YouTube video’s page.  There’s an ad that pops up on the bottom of the video viewer that you can click to buy a download from Amazon or iTunes.  There’s also an ad you can click to buy a ringtone of this song.  Last, if you click on the link for the official Rick Astley YouTube channel, there’s other links to buy his music within the profile.

So to Pete Waterman, I say be happy that a song you helped write was able to spawn something as cool as this:

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By admin, March 19, 2009 3:02 pm

Posted by Dale Flattum

This is pretty fascinating.  It’s not much of a video, but still really well done.

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By admin,

Well, we’re not officially heading down to Austin as a company.  It would be quite a big expenditure to sponsor an event or set up a booth at their show.  Plus, we have a business to run up here.  Those CD and DVD duplication projects aren’t going to finish themselves.

But that doesn’t stop some employees from taking a little personal time off and flying to Texas on their own dime.  Two of our sales guys, Zac Boyd and Justin Kristal, decided to take that trip for a little rock and roll, relaxation, and warm weather.  They’ve promised lots of photos, and have provided some updates via Facebook.  Hopefully they’ll run into a few customers of ours.  Be sure to check back here or our Facebook page for pictures and other updates.

Here’s their journey so far:

Tue 11:25am

Zac Boyd Leaves tomorrow for SXSW!!!!

Yesterday at 11:22am

Zac Boyd says, “To hell with American Airlines! I may as well have flown Northwest!”

3:33pm

Justin Kristal is finally getting on a plane for SXSW after being delayed 8 hours!!!

8:19pm

Justin Kristal is on a plane to Austin, TX with Lady Sovereign and the singer of The Darkness

11:11pm

Justin Kristal has finally arrived in Austin! Let it begin..

3:32am

Zac Boyd arrived in Austin at 11 PM tonight and sat next to “The Darkness” on the flight

3:28am

Justin Kristal had more fun in 2 hours tonight then in the 2 months. Plus I met Lady Sovereigen! Sweeeeeet!

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By admin, March 17, 2009 10:11 am

If you are looking at COPYCATS Media quote for a CD duplication package, it can contain a lot of unfamiliar terminology.  For example, your quote may include an item description like this:

CD Duplication Package - Duplicated CDRs with 1 color thermal imprint, 4 Panel Insert 4/1, Traycard 4/1, Jewel Case, Assembly, Poly-Wrap

If this is your first experience with ordering a CD duplication package, you may be quite confused by this description.  To help you out, we’re going to be breaking down these descriptions and informing you what each term means.  Today we’ll start with the panels. 

Writing this all out would take too long and end being even more confusing, so Chris Brummund and Ricky Coles made a short video clip to explain it all.  Check it out!

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By admin, March 13, 2009 1:44 pm

Posted by COPYCATS Mystery Man

Here’s a little website we stumbled upon recently at the COPYCATS Media.  Before clicking on the link, we must warn you that it could drive you into utter insanity.  One of our employees was already hauled away in a straight jacket, while another has since been showing up to work wearing only a diaper and being followed by a legion of albino squirrels.  We’d call to have him hauled away, too, but the squirrels are guarding the phones with their beady, red eyes.

Click on this link to see what all the fuss is about.

Here’s what others around the office have been saying about it:

“Why is there no back button?  I think I’m going to cry.”

“It’s like playing a never ending game of Minesweeper that you can’t loose.”

“I feel like I made one big mess that can’t be cleaned up, no matter how hard I try.”

“Can’t.  Stop. Clicking.”

“WTF?”

“This is making me dizzy.  Where’s the office barf-bucket?”

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By admin,

Posted by Rich Horton

Back in the day, I was in a band.  Along with many other indie musicians, it was all about doing it yourself: book your own shows, make your own flyers, etc.  This may sound dated, but we also had to put out our own cassette.  This included creating artwork for the cassette face and the little wrap-around paper sleeve.  I was lucky because I worked at a local copy shop and had access to some graphic programs.  We could make copies of the paper sleeve and cut them down.

When it came time to do our first CD, it was still sort of a new thing for indie musicians because of the price.  I had to send my art files to a real printer and use a heavy duty graphics program called Quark.  Luckily, I had access to those programs.  I was able to learn on the fly and the print for our project turned out fine.

Today, I have used prepress and graphics applications for over 15 years and have worked on thousands of CD projects. With all the little things that can go wrong, sometime it’s better to hand off the design and setup duties to a professional.

Using Professional Graphic Design Software

If you haven’t even heard of Quark, InDesign, or Illustrator, it might not be the best idea to do your own artwork for your CD duplication project. You may have set up some designs on your CD labeling software and printed some decent looking inserts and tray cards on your ink-jet printer, but graduating to high-end offset printing is a big jump that requires a bit more expertise.

Photoshop seems to be the most well known software out of the higher end graphic programs.  It is more commonly owned by people who want to edit their photos.  While Photoshop is not the best program to use when setting up your art files, it will still work and we have printed many CD projects from customers using it.  However, there are some offshoots of Photoshop, such as Photoshop Lite and Photoshop Elements, which will not work at all.

DIY or Have Someone Do It For You?

So, can you set up your art files by yourself?  You can if you have some understanding of how Photoshop, but you also need to understand these key elements - Resolution, Bleed and Color Mode.  You also need to know how print lays out for your CD package. We provide templates on our website, but just pulling apart a CD album from your collection and seeing how it all fits will help you see it all put together.

If you don’t think you can understand how it all goes together,  do you have someone who can do it for you?  Sometimes this can be even worse if this person has never set up a CD print project.  If you ask them about resolution, bleed and color mode, and they reply with just a blank stare, you would be better off figuring it out on your own.  Or hire a professional.

Hiring a designer can be expensive, so make sure they have experience designing CD projects.  Also, check references and get feedback from other musicians so you can see how the process went.

There are quite a few things to think about when this entire process is happening.  Your first intuition is to get it done as fast as possible, because you want to get your CD released as soon as you are done recording.  Allow some time for design and your artwork; even start planning it while you’re recording.  A good designer might take 2-3 weeks to get a final file ready for print, and if you want to have input, you’ll need that time.

I would tell you just to use the design services at COPYCATS Media, because we have plenty of experience and know-how, but I know that isn’t always possible.  However, feel free to give us a call if you have questions about those key design elements.  We’re always glad to help.  We can advise you the best way to prepare and layout your graphic files for your CD duplication project.

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By admin, March 12, 2009 9:33 am

Posted by Dale Flattum

Having once fallen down in front of the bass player’s future wife, I feel qualified to present to you this quality video by the Portland rock combo, Red Fang; a group of fine young men committed to educating the public on the dangers of mixing cheap beer and medieval role playing.