Get social with Disc Makers!
You already know that Disc Makers sets the standard for independent CD manufacturing for musicians. Now it’s time to get social with Disc Makers’ social media. Read the post.
Disc Manufacturing & Design
A collection of articles from the Disc Makers blog that relate to CD manufacturing and design, including CD album planning and more.
Selling your music on USB drives: Tips from I Fight Dragons’ Brian Mazzaferri
I Fight Dragons has been selling music on custom USB drives for years with notable success. Here are some tips from Brian Mazzaferri on how to make the most of the venture. Read the post.
Is it time to sell your music on USB drives?
While CDs and vinyl records are a major revenue source for indie musicians, custom USB drives are the latest merch table draw when it comes to physical product music sales. Read the post.
Why indie musicians make CDs [Infographic]
Independent artists rely on the tangible media that is the music CD. As a physical representation of their hard work, a means of increasing revenue, and to establish their brand, independent musicians use CDs in ways major label artists don’t. Read More.
Some things I wish I’d known before making an album
In life, and when making an album, things happen. The more you understand about the process and the more detail-focused you are, the better your chances for success. So here are some things I wish I had been told before I started putting together an album’s worth of material to be pressed and distributed. Read more.
Music news: Happy Birthday’s disputed rights, vinyl vs. streaming, and the last CD-R for Taiyo Yuden
“Happy Birthday To Me:” a complicated history – and future – for the world’s simplest song; vinyl sales continue to make headlines, with sales generating more revenue than free Spotify, YouTube, and VEVO combined; JVC and Taiyo Yuden to stop producing optical media – FalconMedia remains a reliable option. Read more.
9 groovy facts about vinyl records
Perhaps the most famous records in the universe are the two copies of the Golden Record aboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts. The records feature musical selections and spoken greetings in fifty-five languages. Read more.
Audio mastering for vinyl
If the music program is sibilant overall, the audio can be cut at a lower amplitude, which can help with the distortion caused by the high frequency information. The result, though, is a vinyl record that’s at a lower level, and the surface noise will be more prominent – not to mention, it’s not going to be comparable to other vinyl albums. Read more.
How vinyl records work
Vinyl records are back – of course, they never really went away, but how exactly do they work? We take a look at the history of vinyl and explain the science behind the sound of vinyl records. From mastering to manufacturing, we’ve gather insights on exactly how vinyl records work. Read more.
Should your next music release be an EP or an album?
It’s not always easy to know what you should be releasing as a musician. Should you go all out and create a 14 track album right away? Should you release a single as soon as you’ve recorded your first track? Here is a plan I’ve seen work well for many independent artists. Read more.
Wax is back – and the vinyl record revival is good news for indie artists
Vinyl record sales are 26% from last year, and this vinyl record revival can be a sales driver for independent artists. According to Dan Faughnder of Sledding With Tigers, “Once we announced that our first vinyl record was in the pipeline, we received enough pre-orders to break even on the pressing cost before we got them from the plant.” Read more.
From mastering audio to manufacturing: the steps in CD production
The process of transforming your musical ideas into a finished product you can share and sell begins with your audio recording sessions and continues through to the delivery of your packaged CDs or vinyl records. The choices you make at each step affect the quality of your final product, so familiarizing yourself with this process at the earliest stages will help you produce the best possible results. Read more.
Designing your vinyl album cover to make it pop
Even though CDs and vinyl records both make use of similarly-proportioned circles and rectangles in their design templates, each format presents unique opportunities to create graphics that your fans will love. Here are some tips from experienced designers and album manufacturing product managers to help you craft an album design worthy of the music enclosed therein. Read more.
Planning your album: your CD release (and post-release)
If you’re sitting down to tackle making an album, there’s a lot to think about; from clearing the rights for your cover songs to converting the cover art to the right format. When you get your manufactured CDs in hand, there are still a lot of things you need to do – namely, releasing the album for sale to the public. While your music is at the heart of what you do, your identity, image, brand, website, web presence, merchandise, and publicity is what you use to connect with your fans. Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan have revised our popular Planning Your Album From Beginning To End guide. Here’s an excerpt from the revised guide. Read more.
Make your music photos tell your story
Music photography is just another way to help you communicate with the world. When your music photos support your lyrics, music, website, tweets, emails, or releases to complete who you are and help convey your message as an artist AND your artist brand, then they are doing their job! Follow these few guidelines to get your next photo shoot to be a true snapshot of you. Read more.