Advice on bulk CD replication?
 

One of my band mates and I are in the process of making a compilation with the idea of sending these CDs to all bands on the comp for them to distribute (50 bands from all over North America) in their areas to get exposure for all bands on the comp in all of the areas.

We're looking into how we plan on getting these CDs made (We're looking at 1500 2-disk compilations for starters) and are trying to find the least expensive means of doing so. We're going to have a budget of $1500-$3000 (collecting $30-$60 from each band to cover costs) and are looking at having these CDs made with artwork, and either jewel cases or sleeves depending on price differences.

Was hoping someone on these forums had any insight or experience on doing this... We're either going to get a disk printer of our own (we'll probably be doing more comps like this in the future if this one is a success) or having a company do it. And of course if we have a company do it we're looking for the best price. Please help me out!

-Jeremy (Murder Media, Columbia South Carolina)

I used diskmakers dot com a couple years back. Was good quality and reasonably priced :)

If you're looking for a cheap way of doing it, you could just purchase a cd duplicator. The one we have duplicates 10 copies of one cd in only a few minutes. Of course, if you want professional looking CD's and cases, the best thing to do is find a company that will do it for you. Give them some artwork, and let them go to work. Or, get the duplicator and a CD printer and start for yourself. If you still need info on companies, I found one a while back that does it fairly cheap. Let me know.

I'm in a band and found that where I live the cheapest way is to do it all yourself - every professional place we've looked into charges ****loads. We use a CD replicator and a printer that prints onto the CDs so they look professional. Same with the covers.

However it is very time consuming and we probably don't make as many as you need to... so perhaps looking into getting a professional to do it would be a better option.

There's a break point at about 400 discs or so where it works out best to go to a professional manufacturer. If you look around you should be able to find a good deal ... Printing on-disc, the booklets, your back cover etc by hand is a killer ... Seeing as you need as many as you do I would definitely go to a manufacturer.

For 1500 2-disc sets (3000 CDs total), you'll definitely want to get it done professionally. Just purchasing 3000 blank CDRs is going to cost a good chunk of change, and that's without putting a price on all the time it would take to burn all of those discs on a computer drive.

If you want to go DIY style, at least get the actual CDs done by a replicator. I actually work at one (COPYCATS Media in Minneapolis). I'm not in the sales department anymore, so I don't know the exact prices, but I believe you can get 1000 bulk CDs for about $500. This also includes the screen print on the disc label. With 3000 CDs would probably run at about $1500 total. That would use up about half of your budget.

You could then decide if you want to use the rest of your money to print and package it by yourself, or to get that done professionally, too.