Compact Disc Distribution

While we're rapidly moving into a new era of music and music distribution, one of the best and most reliable ways to get your art in the hands of your fans is the venerable compact disc. CDs are cheap, relatively durable, and almost every computer sold today contains the software and hardware needed to record music onto disc. And while not everyone has internet access, you can be almost assured that any given person has at least one CD player.

The Compact Disc was developed in the 1980s as a replacement for the cassette format, which was considerably more expensive to produce and more fragile. The digital nature of the CD allows for repeated playback, whereas a cassette tape would slowly degrade over its lifespan. With careful handling, a CD can last for years and years.

Artists who do their own recording have a choice of a few different formats; by far the most common CDs have a 74 or 80 minute capacity (generally enough for a full album) but smaller discs are available which can handle about twenty minutes of music. Even smaller business-card sized CDs are available, each of which can hold approximately one song.

A final note: when considering burning your own CDs for distribution, it would be wise to invest in a color printer for the production of disc labels. Full color labels look considerably more professional, and stand out much better, than the old faithful Sharpie. By putting a little extra effort into your distribution, you can get fans to give your music another listen.