CD and DVD Duplication in a Digital Age

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In recent years we have witnessed the closing of record store giants -Tower Records, the Virgin Mega Store locations, Sam Goodie, Warehouse, Circuit City, and more - punctuating the fact that online music stores are the future of the industry.

I work in the manufacturing department at TuneCore, a company whose primary function is online distribution of digital music. Though, as an industry, we have reached a largely digital age of music, part of my job is assisting musicians with the manufacturing of a physical product. In a world of MP3s and iPods, what is the relevance of the once standard compact disc and its packaging?

There are pros and cons to having a collection of CDs. Living in a small apartment in New York City, owning even 1,000 CDs would considerably limit my shelf space. I have a few CDs that I like to hold onto but, like many people, when I get a new CD I usually end up ripping it and tossing it.

Despite this shift in consumer habits, CDs retain a certain functionality that is missed when music downloaded or streamed.

It will be hard to replace CD sales at the merch table at your live shows, or giving them out as Promos (you can’t hand some one an iTunes download).
As an alternative, I do personally believe in the future of download cards, they are not yet as widely accepted as promo CDs. It’s a card. It has the band’s cover art and name and the title of the record. A website, and a code. You go to the website on the card, enter the code, and down load the record. This way you have something physical to sell, or hand-out. They are not yet as widely accepted as promo CDs but, download cards could help bands acclimate to the new online era.

For some things there is no substitute to getting CDs pressed. There’s a sense of presence when you hold cover art in your hand or when you see your your collection displayed on a shelf. There is something meaningful in holding a CD case, complete with the images and words that the artist intended you to have, that makes you want to pop the disc in and have a listen - like a present that wants to be unwrapped. It’s one of the most modern and popular forms of art, and to me the “complete package” of a record, the object, is extremely cool.

There is also an idea of permanence attached to the physical album. There is the appeal of archiving “this record will be here long after I’m gone.” A well-cared for CD should last over 100 years.

Downloads and streams are how I get allot of my music. Their convenance seems incredible if you think back to what one had to do to get music 10 years ago, but they have a disposable feeling - like their cousins, streams - you can’t hold them.