How would you make 200-500 copies of your CD

I assume there are a number of places to do it online. Somewhere that I can just send a master CD and for a given amount (hopefully, oh, $1.00 each? Possibly up to $5?) they'll burn a whole bunch of them and mail them back. What are the options and what's included in the price?

I've been burning them myself at home, and, while I don't mind, I'm looking for something a little more professional/a little less work.

I'm thinking they'll be presents for friends, etc.

Thanks,

Sam

Sam - you must have a lot of friends

If you have someone local to go to I would personally recommend that approach: faster turnaround, someone you can talk to before and after the sale, etc. You didn't mention it, so I don't know if you just want CD duplication or if you want the whole package. In either case, you should be aware that what you'll be getting for a 'short run' is just CD-R duplication. I think there's quite a few places that can do just the CD for about $1 or less per CD, but then you still have to package it. If all your doing is stuffing a disk in a sleeve, then that's probably good enough. If you plan on selling it, you need to go with a larger package. There's a lot of options out there, but the main thing to remember is these people are out to make money, so be sure and check everything your signing up for. You can end up paying for stuff that you hadn't planned on. For example, you'll see a lot of places that will take your finished artwork and make the insert for you. What you might miss is that if they have to alter your artwork in anyway, you're gonna pay for it, in addition to any other fixed fees. Unless you've already got your bar code, that's where most of the 'alterations' are made. In general its worth the money they charge, but if you weren't aware there would be that charge it can be a bit of a surprise.

A 500 disc commerical run will cost anywhere from $700-$1000. What's included in the price? Printing a tray card (usually 4 color) and a 4 panel (1 fold) insert, also usually 4 color. Most places only give you monochrome CD label printed directly to the disc, and of course, the CD-R itself. A jewel case and shrinkwrap complete the package. The turnaround on this kind of job is usually a couple of days (if done with someone local) to a week or more (if you have to mail things off).

Options range from complete artwork design, larger inserts (up to 6 or 8 panel is still relatively cheap, but after that it gets pretty expensive, because then they become booklets that need assembly and stapling), color on-disc printing, bar-code assignment and online registration (usually CDDB).

Most places only do full color on-disc printing if you have a glass master made, which usually only happens if you want a run of at least 1000 copies. You also get a better quality of disc as a result (and the overall packaging is higher quality too). One thing to remember about that is turn around for these kind of jobs is usually a week minimum since most places you'll find locally have to ship your project somewhere else to get it completed.

BTW - the turnaround times I'm mentioning assume you have no glitches with the artwork or the production.

Sorry for being so long-winded - hope at least some of the info is helpful to you and not just a bunch of wild rambling - good luck with the project

well I probably ought to let Larry answer this because he probably knows more about it than I do - but the main difference between duplicated and replicated is that a duplicated CD is just that: you take a CD and copy it a CD-R, just like you do at home, whereas a replicated disc is like the ones made by the major (and not-so-major) manufacturers... I'm not sure of the replication process details, but it yields a higher quality CD than CD-R technology does. Because of the extra expense of creating them, the usual price point is 1,000 CDs or more so that when you sell them you make a profit. Haven't done any recent research into it, but a couple of years ago a thousand CDs retail ready ran about $2,000 up... once the glass master is made subsequent runs were cheaper.... I've heard there are places doing it for a lot less, but can't verify - Larry?

And don't worry - my first CD I sent MP3s to the production guys... after they finished laughing they set me straight... I'm a musician, not an audio engineer (although I'm learning from sheer necessity!!!)

Great information, thanks so much. And, yes, the question truly is "What the heck am I going to do with the 800 after I give away 190 and sell 10?" I don't know the answer to that question. But much of what you've said makes sense to me, as even I have noticed that CD-R's don't hold up as well as professional CD's. . . .

Hmm. . . . Part of the equation is (1) how aggressive do I want to market these babies (not very, really, perhaps a web site with samples of my music) and (2) how much demand is there for quiet, New Age type piano music (Is there any at all?). Perhaps I should burn them at home (at first), make a web site, try to sell some, and if it really starts to "take off" and I get a lot of demand then make a run of them. And if it doesn't take off, well, then, I'll just have saved myself a grand and a fair bit of headache (not to mention the embarassment of having 800 of these suckers laying around the house).

Thanks, I still welcome any comments/advice but have learned a lot from this thread already, the style of music I'm talking about (should you care) is here:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=440467

Sam

ORIGINAL: samhoff

Great information, thanks so much. And, yes, the question truly is "What the heck am I going to do with the 800 after I give away 190 and sell 10?"

Exactly the problem. I've lost count how many bands went that route only to break up 6 months later. Now someone has a bunch of expensive beer coasters sitting in the basement

Just got in the mail the other day, that DiscMakers has droped their price on per 1,000 CD's. They are doing 1,000 CD's in jewl cases for $1,099. (I think it was 1,300, or so before).

Cant tell ya how to get rid of them though

You could always buy something like these

http://www.discmakers.com/duplicators/products/automated/index.asp

ORIGINAL: samhoff

If I burn my own CD's someone suggested an Asian sounding one, which I can't find here. Do I have to order them online? I've been just using Memorex or something but I want to burn the best.

Thanks,

Sam

Taiyo Yuden brand is generally regarded as being the best and that's what I've been using for a while now with no problems to report at all. You can find them here:

http://www.allmediaoutlet.com/allmedia/index.jsp?bcc

Short Run looks awesome. I'll give it a go and let you know how it turns out (er, well, it could well be 3 months or so . . . )

Thanks,

Sam

ORIGINAL: Ognis

Short Run looks awesome.

And very, very expensive for some reason.

Well, now that you mention it . . . I was thinking 200 was a nice number but that runs $710 which is not too far from the $1000 or so needed for 1000 elsewhere.

I just ordered a bunch of Taiyo Yuden and will just do that for a while.

Thanks everyone,

Sam

Just a footnote: the cost to DIY (blank CDs, jewel cases, Neato label stock and ink jet cartridges) is going to cost you somewhere around $2 per CD. I know because that has been my cost to get materials in the door for the past 5-6 years. Again, the biggest burden is the ink and paper materials. A set of ink jet cartridges for my Epson printer is around $60-$70. They drain fast when printing booklets, inserts and CD labels

The price fluctuates if you are printing directly on top of the CD (either ink jet or what's that other laser technology... I forgot what it's called). And then factor in the time to burn and print (let's say a 8 hours to do a hundred pieces). And also misprints. Your printer doesn't print properly and you need to do a clean and align (grrrr). Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it but I suppose it might be if you need smaller runs. At least you're in control of the process and can roll your own when you need to.

Oh and don't be surprised if you order bulk quantities of jewel cases and many are scratched or broken.

It's never easy is it

I've got one of those newer Epson printers that will print directly on the CD and it works great and prints reasonably quick. I'm not sure what the ink's costing me though, probably a bundle. So it may not be worth it in the end. Shrink wrapping is another hurdle, or at least one I haven't figured out how to do yet. If some enterprising young guy came up with a good, quick, cheap way for people like us to shrink wrap our own stuff, he could sure make a lot of money.

Wow, everyone, thanks for all the great input.

Got to thinking about a couple more questions, specifically, what are "needs" as I do this. Do I "need" to have a bar code on my CD's? Do I "need" to register them somehow with CDDB? Do I "need" to have the words "copyright 2007" on both the CD and the cover somewhere? How about words like "produced by" or the cost per CD? I have a hard time knowing what's optional and what's necessary; any input is appreciated.

Thanks,

Sam

Edit: One more thing: What's "4-color"? Is that the same as full-color? (I assume not)

Thanks for that input, but I am wondering what to do now that (it looks like) I'm going to be the one burning the CD's and making my own covers etc.

Sam

I've got a favorites folder called "CD Selling" that I filled with links when I was searching around several months ago concerning the same topics. These were the links that did me the most good:

http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/legalchecklist.htm

http://www.musicbizacademy.com/knab/articles/sellonline1.htm

http://www.cdbaby.net/resources/barcode.htm

http://www.cdbaby.net/submit.htm

http://www.musicbizacademy.com/directory/cdmanufacturers.htm

https://www.harryfox.com/index.jsp

http://www.musicbizacademy.com/

And Larry's right about the shrink wrap thing. If they're just for friends or promos there's no need to shrink wrap. Only if you intend to sell in stores. Even CDBaby doesn't require shrink wrapping. Actually, from what I understand though, they're supposed to shrink wrap the CD's themselves if they get an order from a retail record store of your CD through their ditributor (Super D).