...for consumers, for industry, for artists, etc.
Topic sparked while speaking with a music pro at PALM about the relative benefits of each. His response:
"In my world (since I deal with the manufacturing) – a finite number of manufactured promotional CDs/DVDs are made for any given title, the quantity determined by the marketing plans of the label (and sometimes contractually negotiated with the artist, especially if you are big). It costs the label no more, nor the band any less, no matter how they are used for. If they are not being used for promotion (or have lost their timeliness as a promotion tool, as in “used CD stores”), I am all for finding a home for them.
Burned promo discs – In essence, unlimited promo copies are being made, instead of the finite number controlled by the label/band. Even if the individual manufactured disc is a little more expensive than a burn (not by much – I pay $ .27 for replicated CDs unpackaged, not much different than a CD-R), losing control of the number of copies in circluation is worse [of course many burnt discs, in consumer hands, are replacement for purchasing content (disc or download), so both the label and artist lose].
And (second) Lastly – my role in the industry is built around replication of product, so I want to see manufactured commercial & promo discs succeed for as long as possible.
Lastly – as a lover and collector of the music, I want the more permanent version, and I trust the error correction and durability of commercially manufactured discs over burns [see discussions on this topic happening other places]. And I am old enough to still value printed content, even in a promo world – credits, thank yous, notes, etc."
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Thursday, 26 January 2006 15:07 (twenty years ago)