While shopping for a company to manufacture your CD, you may have noticed that sites refer to either CD DUPLICATION or CD REPLICATION. So what exactly is the difference between these two things?
Duplication
CD duplication involves burning discs to CD-Rs. This is basically just like burning a CD from home, but companies will burn larger quantities quickly for artists and often offer on-disc printing to make it look a little more professional than a hand-written Sharpie. Typically, duplication is done in smaller quantities (“short run CD duplication”) somewhere between 100 and 500 discs. Many artists search the web for CD duplication services, not realizing that they actually want CD replication instead.
PROS
- Faster turnaround time
- Ability for smaller orders reduces total cost
CONS
- Essentially just a faster version of something you can do at home (burning CD-Rs)
- On-disc printing isn’t typically silk-screened
- Higher cost per disc
Replication
CD replication involves actually manufacturing and pressing discs based on a master provided by the artist (as opposed to burning onto existing CD-R discs like in the duplication process). Replication is the process that makes the CDs by major artists that you find in stores. Usually, replication is done in larger quantities (1,000 and up is often most cost-effective) and the on-disc printing is done with a silk-screen for higher quality results.
PROS
- Professionally pressed “real” CD
- More cost-effective for higher quantity orders
- High quality silk screen disc printing
CONS
- Slower turnaround time
- Bulk quantities mean higher total cost
Which Should You Choose?
If you’re a serious artist looking to have a professional product to try to sell to as many people as possible, save up enough money to get your CD replicated. On the other hand, if you just want to make some demos of your track to hand out to record labels, managers, and potential fans, you might consider spending a couple hundred bucks to get your CD duplicated instead.