How to Create CDs of Your Music
Album artwork, Physical CDs, Barcode, Copyright & Duplication
After all of your music is recorded, mixed, and ready to go, the next step is to create your CD. Even if you're only going to sell your music online, you still need cover art to submit with your album or single.
Artwork & Case
The most important piece of artwork for your album will be the front cover. It's also the only image you absolutely need to have if you're going to sell your music anywhere. This is what your customers will see first and is very important. It's your attention getter and you should design something that will create interest in your project. You will also want to make sure it's something relevant to your style of music. For example, you don't want to put a picture of a cowboy holding a guitar on the cover of a Rap CD. It needs to be something that'll help your customers identify what kind of CD it is from a distance. The same applies to the name of your album and any text on the CD cover, front or back. The printing on the CD itself can be just plain black text on a silver disc, or a full color printing.
Before you start designing the artwork for your CD, you need to decide how many inserts your case will have. The necessary parts of a CD case that you'll have to design artwork for are the front cover, the tray card (the back cover) and the CD itself. There are extras you can do like a 2-4 sided insert (CD booklet) or a 2 sided tray card (the image under the CD & the back cover). Keep in mind that if you choose a 2-4 sided insert that the front cover will be one of those sides. Take a look at CD in your collection with a standard case to give you an idea of the different parts, and decide how simple or elaborate you want your case and CD to be.
A CD slim case is a slightly cheaper alternative and requires less artwork to design, but I don't suggest this type if you'll be distributing your physical CD to retail stores. The size you'll want is the standard size CD case which is called a Jewel Case.
When designing your artwork remember to leave room for barcodes and copyright information. Especially on the back cover of the CD case. The barcode image has to be added as part of your back cover artwork, no stickers, in the bottom right corner about 1/4" from the bottom edge and the same distance from the right edge. Since you don't have a barcode yet add something of the same size, so that you can see what it'll look like when finished. Keep in mind that it will cover up part of your artwork, so don't put anything important in that spot including text. The average size of a barcode is 1.5" wide x 1.0" tall. You can't go any smaller than 1.2" wide x 0.8" tall and you can't go any bigger than 3.0" wide x 2.0" tall. Also, remember to leave a spot for your copyright information, you'll be adding that later once your album has been registered.
Gimp is an excellent program for creating artwork and editing pictures. It's similar to Adobe Photoshop, but it's free and available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Microsoft Paint is also free, but with limited options and only available for Windows users. It's a great program for editing existing pictures, but not so much for creating them. Kolour Paint would be the Linux equivalent. For Mac users, iPhoto is an excellent program for editing existing pictures and making them look much better. Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard for creating artwork and editing pictures. If you can afford it, it's the best picture program out there. A cheaper $80 version of the professional program does exist, but it'll have limited features.
Reverb Nation has an online Design Application you can use to design your CD, but you'll only be able to sell it on their website.
UPC Barcode
To obtain an official barcode for your products you would have to register at the GS1 US website and pay $760 for 100 barcodes for you company. Fortunately, there is a much cheaper alternative for us musicians who really don't need that many barcodes. CD Baby offers barcodes for $20 when you join their website while Reverb Nation and Tune Core offers you one for free when you sign up for digital distribution through their website. Keep in mind that it can take up to 2 weeks to receive your barcode number if you go through Reverb Nation. When you buy a barcode from CD Baby, after joining their website, they will send you an image file of the barcode. Other companies will send you a number that you have to create an image for yourself. There is a website called Barcode Image Generator where you can do that for free.
Copyright
A copyright is the right given to you by the government for a certain period of time to legally copy and sell your original creations. It also gives you the right to allow or deny others to do the same.
Poor Man's Copyright
A Poor Man's Copyright is the process of mailing something to yourself using Registered Mail from the US Post Office, then keeping the package sealed when it arrives. It supposedly proves that you owned the material in the envelope from the date stamped on the envelope. Unfortunately, this does not hold up in court and does not protect your intellectual property.
Official Copyright
To protect your music you will need to get an official copyright from the U.S. Copyright Office. This process is not as expensive or complicated as you might think. I avoided this for many years until I realized how affordable and fairly easy it was. First, you need to visit the U.S. Copyright Office's website. I recommend registering your CD through the eCO (Electronic Copyright Office), and I highly recommend taking advantage of the eCO Tutorial in PowerPoint or PDF format. It will guide you through the process and make things less confusing. It gets a little more complicated when there are multiple authors on an album, if the music is arrangements of public domain music, and if they are cover songs or derivative works. If there are two or more authors on a song you will have to submit a separate application for co-written songs unless they've signed agreements transferring the copyrights to you. Make sure to add the title of your CD as the "Title of work being registered", and add each individual song under "Contents Title". After filling out and paying for the online submission fee ($35 per CD) you will still have to mail them 2 physical copies of your CD. If you choose to send them a paper submission, instead of using their online submission process, it will cost $65 per CD. It can take up to 6 months for a submission to be approved, so give yourself enough time to get it done. The best option to get the most for your money is to submit an album with as many songs on it as you can. It doesn't matter how many songs are on there, they consider one album a single submission.
Mail In Your Copyright Submission
Once you're done with your online submission they will have you print out a "U.S. Copyright Office Receipt". This needs to mailed to the Library of Congress along with 2 physical copies of your CD. I recommend sending your package via USPS Certified Mail, and ask for a Return Receipt. It's a special Post Office mail service that provides a mailing receipt and delivery information. It should cost about $7 if you mail it via USPS First-Class Mail, or about $9 if you mail it via USPS Priority Mail. You can even go as far as to send it via USPS Registered Mail, which provides the maximum security. It would be about $11 more, but that's mainly for when you’re sending valuable or irreplaceable items through the mail. In my opinion, a mass produced CD that only cost you $2-5 to duplicate doesn't qualify.
Copyright Symbol
When you're copyright is finished make sure to put a copyright symbol with the year it was copyrighted on the back cover of your album, and anywhere else you wish excluding the front cover. (Example: © 2011 by Jon Doe or Copyright © 2011 My Company Name). Whatever name you submitted your work to be copyrighted under is what you need to put, whether it was your name or your company's name. There is a neat trick for Windows users to produce a copyright symbol without having to hunt one down. Hold down your "Alt" key, type the numbers 0169 then let go of the "Alt" key. This will magically produce a copyright symbol for you.
CD Duplication/Replication
CD duplication is the process of creating multiple copies of your CD by burning discs and printing covers for the CD case and the CD itself to distribute to customers. This can be accomplished by hiring a company to do it for you or you can do it yourself.
There is another process of creating multiple copies of your CD called replication. It's a longer process that requires large minimum quantities to order. The result is a professional looking disc that will play on all CD players and computers. Duplication creates a CD-R disc, that look just like a CD you would burn on your own computer, that will work on players that can handle that format. Most computers and CD players are designed to play CD-R discs. So, I only recommend using a replication service if your ordering more than 1,000 CDs.
Extra features can be added to your project like shrink wrap, spine labels, security stickers, magnetic security strips, or an audio/data disc that plays in a CD player and is also a CD-ROM. Each of these will make your CD look more professional, but none are absolutely necessary.
CD Baby/Disc Makers
CD Baby and Disc Makers are business partners for disc making. Even though they are two different websites, it's actually the same service at the same price. CDs will range from anywhere from $2 up to $5 per disc depending on what features you order and how many CDs you are making. The more you order the better the price per CD. Production will take 5 days, but you can pay extra to get it done within 1 or 2 days. Shipping can take up to 7 days, but again you can pay extra to have them ship your order to you faster within 1 or 2 days. There are all sorts of different cases and inserts to choose from, but some have a minimum order quantity limited. You can even order just the discs without and casing. They also have templates for certain software programs to assist in your CD design process.
Reverb Nation
Reverb Nation offers you a CD duplication service through your personal Reverb Store. Which can be setup once you have a music account on their website. You can design your CD using their online Design Application. CDs will range in price from $2 to $5 per disc depending on how many copies you're making. You will only be able sell them on the Reverb Nation website and not anywhere else.
Duplicate CDs Yourself
You can mass produce CDs yourself since it's cheaper that way, but I suggest only making a small amount. Large quantities will be hard to burn, print, assemble, and store. Not to mention that 100 CDs in full jewel cases take a long time to put together. Nero Multimedia Suite is a good program to use for CD creation and burning. You would use the Nero CoverDesigner to design and print your CD and case. To print on CDs you would either need to print on CD labels then stick them on, or get a printer that can print directly onto printable CDs. A LightScribe CD-ROM is another option. Shop 4 Tech will be a good website from which to order your cases and blanks CDs.
Artwork- Painting/Photo Editing Software:
Paint, FREE on any version of Windows
iPhoto, FREE on any Mac
Kolour Paint, FREE download (Linux only)
Gimp, FREE download
Picasa, FREE (Windows, Mac, & Linux)
Adobe Photoshop (Windows & Mac). Extended- $1000, Photoshop- $700, Elements- $80
UPC Barcode:
CD Baby, $20 per album
Reverb Nation, FREE when you sign up for Digital Distribution
Barcode Image Generator, FREE online service
Copyright:
U.S. Copyright Office, Online submission $35 per CD + $7-$9 to mail in your submission via USPS Certified Mail
U.S. Copyright Office, Mail-in Paper submission $65 per CD + $7-$9 to mail in your submission via USPS Certified Mail
CD Duplication:
CD Baby/Disc Makers, $2-$5 per CD
Reverb Nation, $2-$5 per CD
Nero- Multimedia Suite Platinum- $100, Multimedia Suite- $70
Shop 4 Tech, cases & blank discs
These prices are all subject to change, so please visit their websites for a current price list.
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