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When CDs began replacing LPs in the 1980s, I used to interview art directors at the various labels, and they all were frustrated. Were the days of beautiful artwork for music releases gone forever? Hardly. With the dawn of DVD, content providers really began to expect more from their replicators since their product had a higher perceived value. Recently, replicators such as Sonopress, Zomax, and Cine Magnetics told me about some steps they've taken to kick their art services up a notch, both in terms of packaging and on disc printing. Let's look first at Sonopress, which has joined another arvato/Bertelsmann company under one roof in Louisville, Kentucky. Coral Graphics, Sonopress' sister company, is a leading supplier of printed book components in the U.S. Having both companies under one roof will obviously speed time to market, but it seems as though having the creative side of the business at a replicator's fingertips will allow for greater choice in packaging. "If you were to take a look at a paperback softcover and you were to look at a DVD wrap that goes into an Amaray case, it's very similar," says Mitch Weiss, Coral's vice president of sales. "Book customers have experimented with decorative covers versus standard printed covers, and they find that the appeal of the cover with the higher perceived value caused the sales to increase in velocity and in quantity. Media content providers are starting to realize the same thing. It is even more of a challenge for CD and DVD content providers because unlike a book, media is shrinkwrapped," Weiss explains. "You really need creative solutions that will show through that wrap." As for printing on the disc, I've been writing about offset printing since the early 1990s, and replicators have often said it is too expensive and too slow. Equipment has evolved quickly over the years, and with the advent of DVD, attitudes changed as well. Some disc designs have gotten so creative that sometimes content providers choose clear package to show off the disc. Some 90 percent of Hollywood DVDs are printed on an offset printer, one source told me. Even the music industry has moved to offset in some cases as they try to counteract the downloading trend with more attractive presentation strategies for physical media. Disc manufacturer Zomax will be offering offset printing to their customers sometime late this quarter. "Our customers increasingly are looking to Zomax for more unique print and packaging ideas to distinguish themselves in the marketplace," says Zomax VP of marketing George Hadjiyanis. While concentrating on nuances might not be such a stretch for larger replicators, it is interesting to see a niche manufacturer like Armonk, New York-based Cine Magnetics put more effort into printing. This summer, Cine Magnetics added DVD On-Disc Digital Printing to its services. This is not offset printing. Cine Magnetics' Bob Orzack not only boasts that the photo quality color and resolution is "extraordinary," and also allows disc personalization to combat piracy. The disc decoration process Cine Magnetics is using is not offset-based; it uses equipment manufactured by Autotec Digital and produces photo quality that's better thn offset, Orzack claims. "This is a single piece of equipment with accessories that costs upwards of $350,000," Orzack says. "Art is sent electronically to their facility in Boston. They create a photographic roll of microscopic-thin labels. These labels are heat applied to the top of the disc. They become part of the disc and can't be removed. We generally have rolls back within 48 hours." I asked Orzack why printing has become so important. He said, "It's a weird question because it depends on who you ask. In reality, I don't think there is a replicator on the planet that would want to spend the money that we are spending for digital printing except for the fact that you have got to follow the trends." While the quality of silkscreened discs has significantly improved in the last two years, a lot of clients are still not happy with it. While he says silkscreening now already looks as good as offset, going beyond that, quality is a great selling tool. Kammann Machines offers a different technology called digital offset printing which is direct to disc--no labels involved. CD manufacturer NOW Disc is now using Kammann's K15.50 for its digital offset disc printing. According to Steve Gilbertson, Kammann's midwest manager, digital printing offers a price savings over other print technologies because of the efficiencies of reduced changeover time at the press along with reduced prepress time. The cost justification for digital printing will impact the bottom quickly, he says. It's important to note, Gilbertson says, that disc-surface printing is a "fixed cost" business. "If you print one or a thousand discs, the cost per disc are the same," Gilbertson says. The future digital printing equipment will have a more attractive price than that of the traditional printing machines today, according to Gilbertson. Some replicators say they haven't invested money in printing as yet because they don't believe they'll recoup the investment. In the off season, "companies are giving away offset printing because they want the work," one manufacturer told me. "It's difficult to add hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment and not recoup a penny, but during the slow season, it's a buyer's market." But in the busy season that investment may truly pay off, especially for the ever-fiscally conservative music industry. They need to learn a lesson from Hollywood. It's a lot more exciting to receive a beautiful disc in a beautiful package than it is to download to a silver disc that you write on with a Sharpie and then put in a jewel box that will likely break the next time you open it!
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