Does your album simply have too much rock and roll goodness to cram onto one CD? Too much for even two CDs? Don’t fret; you have options. They make jewel cases that are standard sized, but have a hinged tray to store another disc. You can even store three CDs in one standard sized jewel case (you won’t have a tray card, though).
If you have even more discs to package with your replicated CD project, you can also use a quad box. The quad box is as thick as two standard sized jewel cases, and it can store anywhere from one to six discs. It’s also useful if you have a booklet that is larger than 28 pages, because that’s the largest booklet you can package with a standard sized jewel case and still get it to close.
Sales rep Adam Wachter shows the different multi-disc jewel cases available:
When you receive a quote for a CD duplication package, you’re going to notice these numbers describing the printed insert: 4/4, 4/1, or in some cases, 4/0.
These numbers refer to the color print on each side of your paper insert. When an insert is printed four over one (4/1), the four means full color and the one means black and white. A 4/1 insert is full color on one side with black and white printing on the other side.
You can get jewel cases in two basic sizes: standard and slim. The slim jewel case is half as thick as the standard sized jewel case, which will make for a lighter package and save storage space. However, the slim jewel case can not display a tray card, so your package will have less print space.
Watch the short video below to hear Ricky Coles explain the differences between these two types of jewel cases:
COPYCATS Media is now releasing a series of video blogs made by the Sales Reps themselves to explain various tricky or hard to understand aspects of your CD Duplication project.
The first video blog in our series is by Zac Boyd, explaining the different inserts available for jewel cases.
Check out our YouTube Page for more instructional videos.
The popular video game “Rock Band” is letting indie artists submit their music to be used in the game, but is it really worth it? Check out the article here.
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Many indie artists are desperate to get their music out to the public. Is Rock Band the way to do it? Let’s weigh the pro’s and con’s.
Pro:
If you manage to get music on Rock Band, it becomes visible and accessible by every single owner of Rock Band.
Adjustable price for your music. Anywhere from $0.50 to $3.00.
30% profit from every sale.
Con:
$99 charge per year, with no guarantee that the music will actually sell.
The process for submitting music is lengthy, with no guarantee that the music will be accepted.
Only 30% profit from ever sale, as opposed to 70% on iTunes.
In my opinion, putting your music on Rock Band is a risk. However, the most that you can lose is $99 and a few hours of your time. If an artist has the time and is willing to take the risk, then why not? But for many indie artists, their time would be better spent getting their name in the public eye in more effective ways.
Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment and tell me what you think.
There was an interesting little article over at Billboard today the problems of on-demand CD manufacturing. On-demand CD manufacturing is the process of duplicating, printing, and packaging a individual CDs as they are ordered. The article mentions that customers do not like the lower quality print and packaging that come with these duplicated CDRs. But there are ways that you could improve the product quality with this distribution method. Below is a real-life example:
At COPYCATS Media, we had a client who was in the business of recording live concerts and selling freshly recorded, mastered, and printed CDs within an hour or two after the show. They had some big name clients and were hired to record a summer tour for the Black Crowes. So how did we provide CDs, print, and packaging for a customer who needed a 2-hour turnaround time?
We printed up blank CDRs and empty packaging for each show. The client that recorded the shows would have a big truck with all their equipment outside the concert venue. Once the show was finished, they’d start mastering the recorded concert inside the truck. When the mastering was finished, they would start burning copies using the printed CDRs we made for them in advance. Then they’d take the duplicated copy of the CD and package it in the pre-printed digipaks we provided for each show. This was how they got their products to the fans almost immediately after the performance. They would then duplicate and package the rest of the CDRs and sell them through their online store.
The only downside to this method is the packaging did not contain the tracklisting because most touring artists don’t play the exact same setlist at every show. However, we did print seperate packaging for each date, so they would have a different color scheme along with the date, city, and venue printed on it.
In order to make this on-demand CD selling model work, this is what these companies would have to do to improve their product. But this would negate the reason retailers are interested in on-demand CDs in the first place (larger selection, less shelf space). The next best option is getting better printing technology to produce single high-quality prints at a reasonable price. This solution is also a dead-end, as a single high quality print might cost more than the CD, and reasonably priced print is going to be of lower quality.
Here’s an idea that might work for both brick-and-mortar retailers and online retailers: mail a commercial quality printed CD whenever a customer purchases a digital download of an album. If they purchase the downloads at a store kiosk, they can just dock their MP3 player or USB flash drive to the system and get their music on-demand. Then they can have the option to enter their address and have a physical copy of the CD mailed to them. The same would work if you buy from an online retailer like Amazon. You download the tracks on your home computer and receive the CD a few days later in the mail. Again, this satisfies the need for on-demand music as well as having a physical copy complete with the packaging and artwork. They would still need to store these CDs in a warehouse somewhere, but it will save valueable space inside stores.
Just my two cents. Has anybody ever purchased an on-demand CD from a kiosk? What did you think of the quality?
While music albums make up the bulk of our projects at COPYCATS Media, we also have customers who produce comedy albums. Lately, nobody has been funnier than Mary Mack. Being from Minnesota and Wisconsin, her style and material are both big hits with the employees in this office.
The general public has this perception that comedians are to be funny all the time. This often leads to disappointment when meeting them offstage and they are just normal people like you and me. In fact, some may seem somewhat dull or even shy. I guess that’s why they call it a comedy “act” or “routine.” These performers spend time writing these funny jokes and observations to tell over and over again. But Mary seems to carry the same persona both onstage and offstage (just ask any of our employees who have spoken with her on the phone). She has a genuine style that relies more on storytelling and life experiences.
Her career is really beginning to take off, as she has appeared on NBC’s Last Comic Standing and on Comedy Central. If you’re looking to check out some of her material, there’s a lot of it out there. You can purchase her albums (Either You Wake Up or YOu Don’t and Pinch Finger Girl: A Tragedomedy) at CD Baby or view some video clips at her website, www.marymackcomedy.com. She also keeps a hilarious video blog at her MySpace page, too.
If you’re simply too lazy to click on any of those links, then check out the embedded video below.
We’ve been digging up some of our favorite artwork from all the CD duplication projects we’ve done over the years at COPYCATS Media. There’s a lot of good looking designs, but here a few that stuck out to sales rep Zac Boyd.
Zealous Bride, s/t EP
Jordan Rudess, Notes On A Dream
Jason and The Beast, Birth of the Beast
If you’d like to check out some other favorites, go to these other posts by Justin Kristal and Ed Bonach.
When shopping for the best price on a CD duplication project, customers often look for the lowest price they can find. It’s understandable. At this point in the production process, you’ve probably already spent a lot of money on recording, mastering, and graphic design. After paying for all that, you might be looking to pinch every penny you can. But when you are evaluating quotes from different companies, make sure you are comparing apples to apples.
When you see a quote that is drastically lower than the rest of the competition, there’s often a good reason why: it’s missing one or more important elements that the other quotes include. Companies will advertise that lowest price to get you in the door. When you request certain key features on your project, then your price gets jacked up.
Here are some common items that could be left off your low price quote:
Poly-wrap If you are going to be selling your CDs, you will most likely need poly-wrap to seal the package. Some CD duplication companies will advertise a really low price, but they won’t include this necessary element. When you add the price for the poly-wrap, it ends up being the same or more than the competition’s advertised price.
2-Sided Printing Most of our lower priced packages at COPYCATS Media include 4/1 printing. This means that your printed inserts are full color on one side and black & white on the other side. For a small increase in the unit price, you can get it printed 4/4 (full color on both sides). But some places will offer low prices that have less desirable print options, like 4/0 (full color print on one side, no print on the other side). They offer this low advertised price to draw in customers, knowing that most customers will want print on both sides of their inserts. That’s when they raise the price.
Standard Production Times Standard production time for a CD-DVD duplication project shouldn’t take more than two weeks (10 business days). Some places that offer the lowest prices will also have slower than usual production times, like 15-20 business days. Again, the tactic is to rope you in with the low advertised price, then raise it when you want a faster production time.
By now, you’ve probably recognized the pattern: 1) advertise prices lower prices than the competition to lure customers, 2) exclude key features that most customers will need, 3) raise the price when they request these features.
Every CD-DVD duplication company will aggressively advertise their lowest prices (including us), but make sure those low-priced packages include everything you need.
Recently, we stumbled upon a blog posting a bunch of stunning cover art. You’ll see some classics on there, like Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of The Moon,” as well as fairly new albums like Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown,” too.
We decided we’d post some notable artwork that we’ve seen come through our office over the years. I’ll post some suggestions from each employee here at COPYCATS Media. Here are some of Justin Kristal’s favorites (click on images for more information about the band/album):
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In order to make this on-demand CD selling model work, this is what these companies would have to do to improve their product. But this would negate the reason retailers are interested in on-demand CDs in the first place (larger selection, less shelf space). The next best option is getting better printing technology to produce single high-quality prints at a reasonable price. This solution is also a dead-end, as a single high quality print might cost more than the CD, and reasonably priced print is going to be of lower quality.
