CD Releasing

[fresh_an_funky_design]

Right i've been thinking about the viability of CD Releasing for a while now that CDJ's are common in clubs.

If a CD was the same price as a vinyl or slightly cheaper and had some extra tunes over the vinyl release would you consider buying it?

[Si the Sigh]

Yea...

...If I had a CDJ.

[dirty_bass]

Well, I`ve thought the same, I`m actually putting Singularity onto CD for album releases, but the market I`m hitting is very CD friendly, so it shouldn`t be a problem.
However when I investigated getting DB Records on CD it just wasn`t worth it.
Production costs are surprisingly close to vinyl costs, and there is no distribution network bar doing it yourself, which means cheapy crappy self burned stuff, or again, massive outlay.

[Si the Sigh]

But to support vinyl and save it from its impending doom, I'd put the extra track(s) on the vinyl itself rather than the CD to force tight bastards to dig deep and push up the vinyl sales... :lol:

[fresh_an_funky_design]

But to support vinyl and save it from its impending doom, I'd put the extra track(s) on the vinyl itself rather than the CD to force tight bastards to dig deep and push up the vinyl sales... :lol:

by putting the extra tracks on the vinyl you would reduce the quality of the vinyl, as if you've got over 13 minutes on a 33 you have to start filterting out bass frequencies to fit it on the record

[fresh_an_funky_design]

Production costs are surprisingly close to vinyl costs, .

i've managed to find a company who even on low production runs 50 -200 are still cheaper per unit than vinyl and the quality is great, and if you go over 500 its incredibly cheap per unit

[TechMouse]

If a CD was the same price as a vinyl or slightly cheaper and had some extra tunes over the vinyl release would you consider buying it?
Same price or slightly cheaper?

With a blank consumer CD-R costing in the region of 15p it better be a darn sight cheaper matey.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

yeah a crap blank cd with a felt tip marker for packaging might cost 15p, but if you get it in a nice sleeve with full colour artwork its gonna cost a little more. if you we're running large production runs you could get it so cheap but i doubt there's gonna be enough sales to go for that option

[dirty_bass]

Production costs are surprisingly close to vinyl costs, .

i've managed to find a company who even on low production runs 50 -200 are still cheaper per unit than vinyl and the quality is great, and if you go over 500 its incredibly cheap per unit

can you email me details of this company?
I need to get a good deal for CD stuff for Singularity.
Do they do CD mastering too?

[mattboyslim]

DB i may know someone who can help. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to do a short test run for you to check quality. PM for details

[Pheeva]

Right i've been thinking about the viability of CD Releasing for a while now that CDJ's are common in clubs.

If a CD was the same price as a vinyl or slightly cheaper and had some extra tunes over the vinyl release would you consider buying it?

No because I Love Vinyl :love:
Save the vinylyou probablly already know that though mate, hence my avatar

[Mindful]

Ive thought of this idea too.

Yes I would buy C.D.s even tho I havent got a CDJ
Infact Id buy and use any format as long as of course the music is good.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

its just that by limiting ourselves to only releasing on vinyl we're limiting our target audience, as not every dj plays on vinyl. I just wanna see if its a viable prospect.

[eyeswithoutaface]

i think the CD per unit would have to be a fair bit cheaper than vinyl, that's kind of the whole point is it not? just slightly cheaper wont cut it i seriously think, because half the problem with people not buying vinyl anymore is because it is still relatively expensive, and outrageously expensive in places. Unfortunately these days paying £7.50, £8 etc for a record puts alot of people off because they can buy it alot cheaper digitally and with alot less hassle usually. I might be wrong but i actually think alot of people are using laptops than actually just using CDJ's at the moment and digital downloads would be a more viable option than CD, certainly, IMO of course.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

ure prob right about the laptopthing, its just to me an mp3 is so boring, its nice to get some packaging. In terms of price i was thinking £5, which is cheaper than mp3 as mp3'ss are £1-£1-50 and on the cd i was thinking maybe 5-7 tracks

[eyeswithoutaface]

but the advantage with mp3 is you dont have to take tracks you dont want. You can pay for single tracks or the ep as a whole, and i know these days that usually when i get a release with 5 - 7 tracks, its not often i like all the tracks, even with my favourite producers. And in this day and age, alot more people are becoming less and less attached to the physical medium and more into the digital domain as it where, there's no ignoring that really. I honestly cant see people paying out for techno ep releases on CD in the long run. It would be good if people would, but i just dont think it appeals to enough people, as downloading (and yes even pirate downloads) are just too much an attractive option at the moment. Even some of the "bigger" labels as it were are starting to do only digital releases for a while to see how things go.

I think CD albums are a little different, or really high quality compilations that allow people to get a series of ep's all on one CD appeal alot more though definately, certainly albums.

a tricky one still i guess

[TechMouse]

yeah a crap blank cd with a felt tip marker for packaging might cost 15p, but if you get it in a nice sleeve with full colour artwork its gonna cost a little more. if you we're running large production runs you could get it so cheap but i doubt there's gonna be enough sales to go for that option

Hmmm, I can buy CD-Rs with a printable surface for 15p, and print them in my Epson printer.

I can get a crystal case for 20p or something.

Some high quality paper to print the sleeve, say 5p.

So yeah, it would take me some time, but I could charge £1 a CD and be more than covering my costs.

[The Divide]

You can buy mass producing self automated cd burning machine which will burn 100 high quality cds off in one go (including artwork), its all totally self automated so you don’t have to sit there like a robot (although you have to put 100 in at a time). You can pick those up for $2,500 to $5,000 usd (which do 300 on its own). I worked all this out once - the CD, case, inner sleaving, printed inlay and printer ink (printer ink was estimated) per unit was 31p.

Im looking at the manf costs for one of my releases here, it was £800 pounds for 575 records. That’s £1.39p per record

Ive thought about this for a while, Its not a bad ide for those who are more into the materialist approach to consuming music, having a physical product, something you can hold, artwork to look at, etc. I certainly do think, with all the new cd decks coming out these days that music will be played digitally. Its more a question of how long. I’m not 100% too sure that cd's are going to be the main format tho, I think you should go for it tho! But if you do, consider doing an online release too because there’s a demand for it, it may be small but like the demand for cdj, it’s growing. Like it or not. You may associate music with a physical format, but there are people who don’t. By doing a Purely CD based release is going to cause you problems as they will end up with filesharers and for those who like to download music, they are going to take that avenue. That’s what they are into, that’s what they do. If you offer an online download your at least, giving a option.

I know people are downloading my old tracks, even I’m surprised by this, sadly the only labels that have gone digital are the ones I released on years ago.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

yeah a crap blank cd with a felt tip marker for packaging might cost 15p, but if you get it in a nice sleeve with full colour artwork its gonna cost a little more. if you we're running large production runs you could get it so cheap but i doubt there's gonna be enough sales to go for that option

Hmmm, I can buy CD-Rs with a printable surface for 15p, and print them in my Epson printer.

I can get a crystal case for 20p or something.

Some high quality paper to print the sleeve, say 5p.

So yeah, it would take me some time, but I could charge £1 a CD and be more than covering my costs.



yeah but it will look home made, and yeah you'd be covering your costs, but by the time you put distribution and record shops in the process your price has significantly rose. it pays to get it done professionally as it looks professionnal.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

Im looking at the manf costs for one of my releases here, it was £800 pounds for 575 records. That’s £1.39p per record



thats a little expensive, considering you have to do it yourself and outlay ure own equipment, for £632 (£743 inc VAt) i can get 575 cd's full colour on body print, shrink wrappped in a clear jewel case delivered in 72 hours to your door

[fresh_an_funky_design]

But if you do, consider doing an online release too because there’s a demand for it,.

we already release online as well, just looking for different avenues for sales.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

cheers for all the comments though guys, raised some interesting points i've not thought of

[TechMouse]

yeah but it will look home made... it pays to get it done professionally as it looks professionnal.
The only difference being the colour on the back of the CD?

Have you seen these CD-Rs with printable surfaces?

You can even get software which watermarks the burn side, if that floats your boat. It looks pretty cool. Kind of like Fresh Grind, digital style.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

there is a difference from the quality of print you get from a cd from HMV and one you've done on your computer. The quality of finish i'm talking about is what you get on commercial cd's.
Also i can't be bothered to spend 4 days doing it myself, i'd rather pay someone geared up making cd's to do it for me.

[TechMouse]

Also i can't be bothered to spend 4 days doing it myself, i'd rather pay someone geared up making cd's to do it for me.
That's fair enough.