From Noah Sent Tue, Mar 23rd 1999, 18:06
From Noah Sent Tue, Mar 23rd 1999, 18:06
>I agree with brock. There's no reason anyone should be charging more than >$5 for a CD-r when they won't play on all CD players and the emulsion >deteriorates after a few years rendering them unplayable. (anyone know >exactly how long? 5-10 years?) as i have a cd-r album that is going to be available very shortly, i feel the need to defend myself and other cd-r people against claims like these .. first of all, cd-rs play on the majority of cd players. im not aware of any studies or reliable sources to refer to here, but assuming that the cd-r is in right side up (green or blue or whatever side goes DOWN) it should play in the vast majority of players. >I've always through that CD-r's would help level the playing feild for >amateur musicians, but not this way. A full CD-R with color copies runs >around $3, as opposed to about $1.50 for real CD's in a quantity of 1000. a breakdown of cost in a "typical" cd-r release, assuming 100 total copies will be burnt: cd: approx $100 color reproduction for artwork: $200 neato labels for cd: $20 jewel cases: $20 naturally, some of these things could be cheaper/more expensive, so please don't reply saying "i got _200_ jewel cases for sale for $10, blah blah blah". to get your music to a good number of people, on cd-r, takes a considerable amount of time and money. the cd-rs don't burn themselves.. at 30-40 minutes a disc, that's 3000-4000 minutes of burning time alone, plus time for cutting art, printing art. shipping and handling add to the total cost, labeling cds takes time .. once all this is done, there are endless trips to the post office sending your cds to people. selling cds for $5 a pop would be noble, but, ultimately, foolish. a person who did, even if he sold every single cd he made, would likely not have enough money to repeat the process, after he got around to making new music. >Frankly, I don't understand why an artist would bother with a CD-r label >when any artist can buy a CD burner for $300 and do it themselves. At >least Underscore has some really cool packaging that looks like a big >matchbook, but underneath all that it's still not the real thing, and it >still wont play on all CD-players. an artist would bother with a cd-r label because it's easier than going through the process i mentioned above. i would recommend, however, ditching the cd-r method and fronting the money to a duplication plant. save you time and headaches.. noah ps: hypothetically, if phthalo releases DID have nice artwork for each release, would $12 be fair then? what is a fair price for a nicely designed cd-r release, now that everyone is aware of the hassle and cost of creating such a thing? ;)