From Che Sent Tue, Mar 30th 1999, 10:49
From Che Sent Tue, Mar 30th 1999, 10:49
At 01:00 PM 3/23/99 -0500, Noah wrote: >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. If you think that's true, bring over a stack of green CDRs & we'll try playing them in my car. The (1 year old) Sony 10 disc changer in my car doesn't like greens very much - more often than not they generate the dread E-04 message (they don't play at all). Terrible luck w/ green TDKs. Blue Verbatims almost always play, but w/ occasional skips on 30-40% of discs. Those weird green- tinged gold Sonys play better, skips on 10% of discs. Same w/ gold CDRs. If it plays in the car, it plays anywhere. I'm puzzled that someone said they have trouble with the green-tinged golds a few days ago, when I've had very good luck, at least w/ Sonys. And someone said TDKs were best, but they don't work for me. What I'd love to know is - does this depend on the burner at all? My initial thought would be no, it's all in the laser/pickup combo in the player, BUT, CDRs are so shrouded in mystery I wonder if the burner's ability to burn the different colored dyes doesn't also affect things. Comments? Real world experiences? But I digress. To qualify your original statement, PROPERLY TESTED CDRs will play on 90-99% of CD players. And quality control is incumbent upon the producer. Not every CDR has to be tested, but the producer should be aware of what brands play and what don't. Cductive, get a clue! >>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. Dunno who wrote that, but it's important to note the difference in upfront capital costs. Assuming you already own the equipment, then the upfront cost to release a CDR album is the cost of a box of CDR blanks ($3 for a 5 pack at Fry's last week). Compare that w/ $1500 for a "real" CD release. Anyone who has visited a pawn shop has probably figured out that musicians tend to have cash flow problems. Not having to scrape up $1500 is a HUGE advantage. I think Stuart (Sub-Conscious Geography) has hit upon an excellent business plan. I hope it works as planned! >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. There's nothing foolish about trying to get your music into the hands (and ears) of as many people as possible. If this means working your ass off to distribute the first release or two, then so be it. A first CDR release should be looked upon as an advertisement for future products, not a product in itself (if you think it's art, not product, then give the damn things away). >i would recommend, however, ditching the cd-r method and fronting the money >to a duplication plant. save you time and headaches.. Not everyone posesses the fiscal discipline necessary to go this route. Which is better, working multiple jobs to raise the cash to produce a proper CD (which would take time away from making music), or spending a little time to burn CDRs on demand? What works for you doesn't work for everyone. Obviously a lot of people are going the CDR route. >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? ;) Anyone who has taken even a high school course in economics knows that product pricing is a complex problem. It often has nothing to do w/ cost of production - record companies sell CDs for more $ than the more expensive to produce MCs. Also, the price relates to number of units sold in a non-linear fashion. Sell a CDR for $17 and you may sell 20, sell it for $10 and you may sell 100, sell it for $5 and you may sell 120. Obviously, for this hypothetical example selling it for $10 will net the most money. But determining the optimal price is difficult, often a matter of trial & error. Big corporations do it thru market testing and software analysis of sales. For the micro-label producing CDRs, it's more difficult. As much as we like to say "it's all about the music", people will pay more for an attractive looking product, even if they're buying it to listen to. Artwork would definitely "pay for itself" in terms of saleability, and I'd be willing to bet that it affects how often the CD gets played. Other factors to be considered are the (misguided) perception that CDRs are less durable and reliable, and the pereception, right or wrong, that self-produced music from unknown artists has lower production values than that from major label artists. Obviously this Dmitri guy has miscalculated, if people are bitching about his prices and lack of art. It sounds like he has a very shortsighted strategy. If he saved the profits from a few hundred CDR sales and invested them in proper CDs, he'd make more money for less effort, though obviously he'd have more capital tied up and there's always the risk of a release not selling, which means taking a loss, but so much less labor is involved that it would seem like a fair tradeoff. Che