Monday November 23, 9:23 pm, Eastern TimeCustomDisc.com to offer in-store, customized CDs
By
Matthew
Lewis HARTFORD,
Conn.,
Nov
23
(Reuters)
-
A
small
Connecticut
technology
firm
aims
to
change
the
way
people
buy
compact
discs
in
the
United
States,
a
business
worth
about
$15
billion
a
year,
and
the
concept
goes
well
beyond
retailing
music
via
the
Internet. CustomDisc.com,
which
recently
launched
a
Web
site
that
allow
consumers
to
compile
and
buy
compact
discs
tailored
to
their
own
specific
tastes,
is
extending
its
``customized
CD''
concept
from
cyberspace
into
retail
stores. The
Stamford,
Conn.-based
company
plans
to
launch
its
automated,
``compile-your-own
CD''
kiosks
in
music
stores
across
the
United
States
in
1999,
the
company
said
on
Monday. Shoppers
will
be
able
to
walk
into
a
store
and
use
a
computerized
vending
machine
to
create
personalized
compact
discs
with
70
minutes
of
music.
After
punching
in
the
desired
songs,
the
customer
then
submits
his
or
her
credit
card,
and
the
machine
spits
out
the
new
CD
in
less
than
five
minutes. The
cost
is
$4.99,
plus
$1
per
song
on
average,
though
songs
and
pieces
of
an
unusually
long
duration
might
cost
more. ``For
a
10-song
CD,
you
can
expect
to
pay
$13-14,''
Nicholas
Darveau-Garneau,
president
of
CustomDisc.com,
told
Reuters
in
an
interview.
It
will
cost
a
bit
more
than
buying
a
regular
CD,
he
said,
because
``it's
like
buying
a
custom-made,
tailored
suit,
as
opposed
to
an
off-the-rack
suit.'' The
15-employee
CustomDisc.com
is
owned
by
the
closely
held
Custom
Revolutions
Inc. It
recently
obtained
the
exclusive,
worldwide
licensing
rights
for
customized
CD
vending
machines
from
Intrepid
Enterprises,
a
Boston-based
intellectual
property
management
firm. CustomDisc.com
is
now
marketing
the
idea
to
``brick
and
mortar''
music
retailers
around
the
United
States. ``By
next
year,
we
want
to
have
a
deal
with
two
large
retail
customers,''
Darveau-Garneau
said. Record
companies
generally
like
the
concept
because
they
see
it
as
a
way
of
fighting
music
pirates,
many
of
whom
flourish
on
the
Internet. ``You
can
currently
go
on
the
Internet
now
and
download,
for
free,
almost
any
song
ever
made,''
Darveau-Garneau
said.
``And
the
record
label
does
not
get
paid
for
that,
which
is
clearly
wrong.'' ``The
way
to
think
about
what
we
do,
from
a
record-label
perspective,
is...
if
the
consumer
really,
really
wants
to
buy
particular
songs,
let's
get
them
to
pay
for
it,
as
opposed
to
stealing.'' CustomDisc.com
to
date
has
licensed
more
than
185,000
songs
from
125
of
the
550-plus
record
labels
in
the
United
States,
he
said. The
company's
custom-CD
Web
store
has
been
doing
``very
well''
since
its
launch
just
a
few
months
ago,
Darveau-Garneau
said.
``We're
getting
literally
thousands
of
people
to
our
(Internet)
store
every
day.
This
last
month,
we
got
over
1.5
million
page
impressions.
Our
sales
have
been
doubling
every
month,''
he
said,
though
he
declined
to
reveal
sales
figures. Other
companies,
including
Music
maker
and
Amplified
Inc.,
also
offer
customized
CDs
via
the
Internet. Currently,
about
700
million
music
CDs
are
sold
in
the
U.S.
each
year,
Darveau-Garneau
said.
CDs
are
a
$15
billion
annual
industry
in
the
U.S.,
and
double
that
worldwide. While
less
than
1
percent
of
the
CD
industry
now
comes
from
non-traditional
sales
(including
customized
discs
and
traditional
CDs
sold
via
the
Internet),
industry
analysts
predict
that
by
the
year
2002,
non-traditional
sales
will
make
up
15
percent
of
the
total,
and
37
percent
by
2007. ``With
all
these
different
(channels)
to
buy
music,
the
music
industry
is
going
to
grow
significantly,''
Darveau-Garneau
said.
``The
more
choice
and
access
you
give
people
to
the
music
goods,
the
more
money
you're
going
to
make.''
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Thanks Anna!
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