You can download a huge music library without ever leaving home, but reports of the compact disc’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, writes BRIAN BOYD . Read this article from the Irish Times.

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IT WAS INEVITABLE. The report went like this. By the end of next year the major record labels are planning to have abandoned the CD and replaced it with downloads and streams through iTunes and similar music services. That’s because the CD is an anachronism from a pre-online era, according to the online music magazine Side-Line. CDs won’t disappear completely, the report continued, but the format will occupy as small a niche as vinyl does now. Its end not only makes economic sense, as downloads are cheaper than a physical product to provide, but is also in tune with how we consume music in these days of the smartphone and the tablet.
The story was widely blogged and tweeted, and almost everyone accepted that technological progress had lapped the physical CD and that we were going to live our cultural life happily ever after in the cloud.

There’s just one problem with the Side-Line story: it’s wrong. At first it looked solid: more and more people are opting for downloads, and CDs have the drawback, when they don’t sell as well as expected, of leaving retailers and record labels with return and storage costs. Downloads, on the other hand, incur no packaging, transport or storage costs and minimal distribution costs.

Music stores have been giving CDs less and less floor space in recent years, as video games are now the big sellers on the high street. More people are getting their music from iTunes and other digital services, and a whole generation of music consumers each own hundreds of albums but have never touched a CD.

After Side-Line published its story, people started to wonder about magazines, books and films. Surely, the argument ran, if it’s cheaper, easier and more convenient to acquire music, books and films online, we’re looking at the end not only of the CD but also of physical copies of books and films as well.

BUT WHAT IF THE END is not nigh for the CD? And what if that means our cultural future will not be entirely digital? Side-Line contacted three major labels – Universal, EMI and Sony – about its story, but all declined to comment. That probably fuelled a grassy-knoll theory that the majors had privately decided to kill off the CD next year but didn’t want the news to be reported too soon.

This week, at least, it was easy to find music-industry people who will talk about the future of the compact disc. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide, and CD sales are its lifeblood. “This story was first written back in October, and as far as I can see it hasn’t gained any credibility at all,” says Adrian Strain, the federation’s director of communications. “CDs still account for more than 60 per cent of industry revenues globally – more than 70 per cent in some markets, such as Germany – and there is still healthy consumer demand for the physical product. This is despite the rapid growth we have seen in the industry’s digital revenues.” Check the Nielsen Report for 2011 here.

Gennaro Castlado, a spokesman for HMV, says, “I don’t think we should write off the CD just yet, as there are still a huge number of people who like the idea of owning and collecting music in physical formats, especially when they can make their own digital copies to get the best of both worlds. There will be a viable market for CDs for quite a while to come.”

Read the whole story here—–>

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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients are indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need a Instant Quote on a project now or something you are thinking of in the future AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.

What is a DVD logo? Do we really have to put it on our DVD? What is it for? Can we just download the logo on the internet or do we have to get it from some organization?

If you’re a filmmaker, sometimes a very small thing like a DVD logo can be such a pain in the neck.

I know you’re too busy for these things. That’s why, to make life a bit easier for you, I researched and made a brief summary about the DVD logo. Hope you’ll find this helpful.

What is it?

Is it required?

What does the logo signify?
Legitimacy

Better Compliance

Who can Use the logo?

What Businesses may apply for the License?

This is perhaps another reason why it’s much better to go to a licensed duplication company than to burn your DVDs at home.

If you want to read more about the DVD logo, visit the DVD FLLC’s main site.

1. Flipping through racks of discs is more fun than the telephone book precision of an online music store. You never know what mis-filed gems you’ll stumble across.

2. CDs are rarely copy protected so you can load them onto whatever devices you have without risking arrest or enormous civil penalties.

3. You get cover art and a shiny new paper insert. That enjoyable moment when you sit on your couch and flip through the fresh booklet is worth paying for.

4. CDs are a great way to back up your music collection without resorting to external hard drives or, um, DVD-Rs.

5. CDs are encoded in uncompressed PCM audio, an ideal source for mp3 / ogg vorbis / AAC copies.

6. You can sell the damn things whenever you feel like it.

7. Removing the shrink wrap will help satiate your irrational consumer urges without going broke.

8. You’ll have something to brag about when people visit your house. If you have a huge collection of CDs or vinyl, you should display it where all your guests would see it. Perfect ice-breaker.

9. You can play a CD in a friend’s car without needing an FM transmitter, flash key or three miles of tangled input cable.

10. Nostalgia. Ahhh, yes! I buy CDs simply because it reminds me of an era- when buying an album gives you a high because you can finally play your favorite music all day long. Reminds me of the time when I was so obsessed with music but music was not so readily available.

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An edited article by James Grahame of Retrothing.com

To DVDr to Bluray? If you’re a filmmaker and you’re having a tough time choosing between the two, then you better read this.  We will compare their resolution,capacity,compatibility, privacy protection, and price.

Resolution:

Blu-ray plays video in high-definition at a resolution of 1080p versus a standard DVD’s 480i resolution. Blu-ray players offer the best-quality sound and picture for home theater systems. While the DVD and Blu-ray are both compatible with Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio, the way the discs are encoded makes the sound quality on a Blu-ray disc better than DVD.

Storage capacity:

Current DVDs employ a 650-nanometer red laser and have a recording capacity of 4.7 Gbytes. The Blu-ray Disc’s 405-nm blue-violet laser enables the recording and rewriting of up to 27 Gbytes of data. It can hold 13 hours of video.

Although Blu-ray can’t quite fit an entire series of HD-quality material on one disc, it could potentially fit an entire series of standard DVD quality stuff on one. That’s pretty good, considering the storage savings alone.

Backwards compatibility

Allow users to both read and write on CDs, DVDs, and, obviously, Blu-ray discs.

Piracy protection

DRM is the copyright protection scheme the media industry uses to prevent piracy, and the Blu-ray’s technology in this realm is actually quite exciting. Hollywood wanted a new DRM system that would be more secure than the failed Content Scramble System (CSS) used on DVDs. The possibility exists for users to copy the content of a disc a limited number of times, similar to Apple’s iTunes system.

A lot of Space for features:

Because it has bigger space, you can put commentaries, full-length director’s cuts, and a barrage of “the making of” documentaries all on a single disc. These are the kind of stuff people want and these are the kind of stuff which cannot download online.

Price:

A study performed by Home Media Magazine (August 5, 2007) concluded that HD DVD discs and Blu-ray discs are essentially equal in production cost. Quotes from several disc manufacturers for 25,000 units of HD DVDs and Blu-rays revealed a price differential of only 5-10 cents. (Lowest price: 90 cents versus 100 cents. Highest price: $1.45 versus $1.50.) Another study performed by Wesley Tech (February 9, 2007) arrived at a similar conclusion. Quotes for 10,000 discs show that a 15 gigabyte HD DVD costs $11,500 total, and 25 gigabyte Blu-ray or a 30 gigabyte HD DVD costs $13,000 total.For larger quantities of 100,000 units, the 30 gigabyte HD DVD was more expensive than the 25 gigabyte Blu-ray ($1.55 versus $1.49) [Wikipedia]

Sources:

Wired

Wikipedia

Technabob

Radio has the most stringent requirements for the CDs that you send them, the discs you put them on, and the cases you put them in. Let’s go over them…

MUSIC SPECIFICS: Should you make albums or singles? The easy answer is relatively simple: If you are sending to college radio, send an album or EP. If you are sending to commercial radio, send a single. If the format is AAA or Americana (the only formats that are both comm and noncomm,) you can send either one, but preferably send the album.

As for the number of tracks on an album, try to keep it below twelve. And make the first track begin with some energy… don’t begin with a song that has a long, slow, building-start (you can do that later on when you are promoting an accepted talent.) For a station that received 20 or 30 releases for review THAT DAY, an album from an unknown artist that starts slow is going to have a tough time being reviewed.

For singles, generally you should have four versions on the CD: The radio edit (clean lyrics); a full length (i.e., “album version”): an a capella version; and an instrumental version. The radio edit should be no longer than 3.5 minutes long. The a cappella and instrumental versions are sometimes used in station commercials, liners, and ID’s. Others versions which may be useful are mix/dance versions and 12-inch cuts (genre permitting).

SPECIFICS ABOUT THE CD: First off, I should make a point that you NEVER send more than one release to a station. It’s difficult enough getting one release from a new artist reviewed. You are only insulting the station by sending more than one release (i.e., sending a current release and a previous release too.)

CD recordable s (or “burned” CDs) are the type that are blue-ish or greenish in color. They are printed on computers, and they are the type you get when you order small quantities like 10 or 100, or if you order from MP3.com. CDRs can be sent to college stations only. CDRs are too unreliable (and are an insult) to commercial stations.

Manufactured CDs are the mandatory type for commercial stations. These are the types of CDs that have a minimum run of 300 or 500, and are silver in color. They are reliable, and show that you have a serious project that you are not going to skimp on.

On the CD graphics, be sure to state artist, title, label, song lengths, the versions, contact info, and (if it is a single) that the song is “from an album”, with a small picture of the album.

For commercial radio, do not use any CD oddities like mini’s, special shapes, odd colors, built-in videos or anything else that is wildly different. Commercial stations only view these as “tricks” by new artists who want attention. Leave that stuff for established artists. For college radio, however, anything goes for any artist.

CASE TYPES: There is a simple answer to this… use standard (not slim line) plastic jewel boxes ONLY. Period! It is the worst peeve of stations when slim cardboard or vinyl cases are used… they don’t fit the CD racks properly, and will just get thrown away. Cardboard and vinyl sleeves literally “slip through the cracks.”

As for the wording on the case, make sure the artist, title(s), label, song lengths, and version descriptions are all on the OUTSIDE of the case (they can be inside, too). And very important… if you have a bar code (or you’ll have a space for one), put it on the back of the case, in the corner, so that you can poke a hole through the plastic/barcode without harming the CD (you do this by using a soldering iron or drill). Note: If the CD is being sent ONLY to radio (and will not to be sold at retail,) then a barcode is not needed.

Finally, when mailing the CDs, use first-class postage. Third-class postage will cause great delays, and can jeopardize the project’s timing.

Report provided by the Bryan Farrish of radio-media.com

Randall Roberts of LA weekly pens a fascinating tell all, expose, or confession, whatever you want to call it, covering the promo CD racket that sits beneath the music reviewer industry.

What on earth do those guys do with their piles of free CDs? The answer is probably a surprise to few who frequent used record stores: they’re sold. The thing is, nobody ever talks about it. Roberts was even asked not to publish his report by an interviewee, thinking it might put an end to his sweet gravy train.

The bounty therefore becomes something you have to deal with, like a farmer stuck with molding grain as winter approaches.

So then what? Do you throw it away, and let all that plastic end up in a landfill? Do you donate it to Goodwill, where some thrifty hipster will buy it for cheap? Do you give it to your friends? Do you sell it?

Often, nudge-nudge, wink-wink, the so-called “tastemakers” do just that. Of course, finding anybody in the music business to actually talk about this vast and ever-fluctuating underground economy is tough. Ask a publicist what he does with unwanted promos and there’s usually an awkward pause, as though you’d just asked after his porno collection.

Confessions of a Promo-CD Junkie: Who Will Stop the Music Industry Gravy Train?

After more than 15 years as an innovative Australian music company, Creative Vibes has called it quits. Their mission statement claims the company to be inspired purely by music, set out to make sure that music shops, music media and above all, music lovers got to hear and learn about the many brilliant, but non-mainstream artists from all over the world.

Founders Gordon Henderson, Peter Pasqual and Heidi Pasqual had this to say about the downfall of less than integrated businesses:

Sadly though, as a truly independent company we just can’t compete with large companies and multinational  companies supplying everything from music to computers and electrical items, to give retailers what they now need to stay in business and sell good music at the same time.

The majority of our business is in imported music which has always funded our investments in emerging, Australian artists.  Because of the recent, drastic drop in the value of the Australian dollar, combined with the spiralling demand for discounts and deals, we can’t get the margin out of our imports to sustain the development of our local releases.