As an indie artist, you try as much as possible to cut-down or eliminate your expenses in whatever way you can even when it comes to CD duplication. You do not want to shell out a lot of money with your album only to sell 50 copies. Yes, you love your music but you have other concerns like food, baby, or rent that you simply cannot compromise.
First of all, you have to bear in mind that you can only cut-down costs to some extent. You do not want the sound quality or the aesthetic appeal to suffer because this is your debut album. You want to show them what you’ve got and the sound quality and the way your album looks matters a lot. So the best way for you to do is look for wise ways and options for you to spend less on CD duplication without compromising the quality of your album.
Here are some tips to cut-down CD duplication expenses that you might find useful:
Get a good estimate of the number of CDs you should reproduce. Nothing is more expensive than having stacks of untouched CDs in the basement. You cannot duplicate 10,000 copies if you only have 15 people showing up at your gigs, and you only have 20 twitter followers. You can do a rough estimate by studying your statistics in Myspace and social networks, your fans whom you think will really buy your CDs, etc. If you think there are so few of them, then you might want to give your marketing a big push and just have 500 or 200 copies duplicated. If you run out of CDs, you can always order from your CD duplication company and have it in 2-3 days.
Research for the most affordable CD duplication company. Don’t just choose the first CD duplication company that you think offers a good rate. You know nothing about this so you have to ask around and ask friends to refer you so you will have discounts. Of course, you have to be assured of the quality so make sure you check the company’s portfolio and list of clients.
Read the fine print. There are those CD duplication companies that offer you low rates and fast turnaround but you have to check the terms and conditions for hidden fees. Trust me; there are hidden fees right there and a lot of disclaimers so you better not be lazy. You do not want to be arguing with the company in the end and they’ll simply tell you “it’s in our terms, didn’t you read it?”. So be cautious because business is business.
Let a friend or student design your CD packaging. It’s not very cheap if you hire a CD packaging designer to do your artwork. You can actually have this done for free. Make a list of people who can possibly help you with design and contact each of them. Tell them that you will credit them in your album and that you will recommend them to fellow artists.
Make your CD packaging design simple but still catchy. As Einstein said, Make everything simple, but not simpler. This can apply to CD packaging as well. Try to come up with a concept that’s doable, cost-effective, but still very catchy. My tip is this: work on what you have. Do not attempt to have that glossy, over-the-top look of famous artists when you only have Polaroid-quality material. Instead, be true to your material and have a cool Polaroid CD cover with creative texts and sketches on it.
Make sure you submit all the necessary requirements. Check each of your materials –from your master, your CD packaging,everything-and make sure they all follow the CD duplication company’s guidelines and standards. You don’t want to delay production and most of all, you do not want to pay them additional fees for editing and tweaking your materials.
There you go folks! I hope this will help you cut-down your CD duplication expenses. Good Luck!
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