Bar Code and DVD Packaging

[A_DeAngelo]

new post...(I think I'm hitting the right button this time)

We're releasing the first dvd in our new line Tony&Cam RAW and I'm not sure that I want to invest in a new bar code identity - we won't be distributing the new line through our distributor, The French Connection who's id is on all of our existing titles

We've mutually decided to go this on our own - so question is this...

We won't be selling mass quantities to Tower Records or We won't be selling mass quantities to Tower Records or Virgin anymore so do we really need a bar code?

Do small retailers really need to scan the id into their system?

We've asked several pop&pop shops and they don't seem to care

Is anyone else releasing dvd's without bar code and is that ok and successful with your distributors and retailers?

Tony wants to know

[deanb]

new post...(I think I'm hitting the right button this time)

We're releasing the first dvd in our new line Tony&Cam RAW and I'm not sure that I want to invest in a new bar code identity - we won't be distributing the new line through our distributor, The French Connection who's id is on all of our existing titles

We've mutually decided to go this on our own - so question is this...

We won't be selling mass quantities to Tower Records or We won't be selling mass quantities to Tower Records or Virgin anymore so do we really need a bar code?

Do small retailers really need to scan the id into their system?

We've asked several pop&pop shops and they don't seem to care

Is anyone else releasing dvd's without bar code and is that ok and successful with your distributors and retailers?

Tony wants to know

Hey Tony, you can buy individual barcodes from people that already have the system. This is what I do, you can search online and find a couple of different options. :sunny:

[A_DeAngelo]

Hey Tony, you can buy individual barcodes from people that already have the system. This is what I do, you can search online and find a couple of different options. :sunny:

yeah - I know - but then the code shows their name first - I guess what I'm saying is this... we can invest in our own code - should we even bother when the retailers we've talked to don't even seem to care - they just want our product NOW - they'll have to wait for us to print up a couple of thousand covers with a code...

worth the wait - I don't know...

[basschick]

why not ask tom? not only is he a retailer, but he might sell your title, so he'd know...

[TropixxxStudios]

I am not sure you need it. We have barcode on some of ours, and then on some we dont. If someone really needs a barcode, we go to:

http://www.buyabarcode.com/index.php?/en

And buy one, then have stickers made, and slap them on the DVD's.

We are a lot smaller then you, but it seems to work for us.

[gaybucks_chip]

We did without for a long time, but it seems that more and more retailers make use of the barcodes, and according to our distributor, there are a significant number of retailers that will not accept a product without a barcode.

The cost for having your own barcodes is steep - GS1 charges about $750 the first year, half that I think in subsequent years - but as you said, it does identify the product as yours specifically, which will have some value if, for example, the product is wildly successful and you decide you do want to distribute it.

The other option is, you can get the barcode allocation from GS1, so you have a permanent barcode for the product that's yours, but if you already have covers printed, you can make stickers with your own individual barcode for that product and just sticker the existing covers until you run out and have to print more.

If you're sure you'll never wholesale the product, I'd say go without. If there's a reasonable possibility that a number of retailers will want it, I'd say put a barcode on the product, either your own or one you license from someone else.

[A_DeAngelo]

We did without for a long time, but it seems that more and more retailers make use of the barcodes, and according to our distributor, there are a significant number of retailers that will not accept a product without a barcode.

The cost for having your own barcodes is steep - GS1 charges about $750 the first year, half that I think in subsequent years - but as you said, it does identify the product as yours specifically, which will have some value if, for example, the product is wildly successful and you decide you do want to distribute it.

The other option is, you can get the barcode allocation from GS1, so you have a permanent barcode for the product that's yours, but if you already have covers printed, you can make stickers with your own individual barcode for that product and just sticker the existing covers until you run out and have to print more.

If you're sure you'll never wholesale the product, I'd say go without. If there's a reasonable possibility that a number of retailers will want it, I'd say put a barcode on the product, either your own or one you license from someone else.

thanks Chip and all - really valuable - you know, we put our first 2 major titles out without the code (before we were picked up by TFC) and there was really no problem that we didn't have a code - we even went into second edition replication (an additional run of *&*&%) and didn't include bar code on the vhs box or dvd cover - we sold and sold and continue to sell those two titles

and it seems that there are lots of retailers interested but, like I said, they told me that their not really interested in the bar code - their interested in my fucking! (makes sense to me)

we haven't printed covers yet so... we'll see

I could think of a lot of other ways to spend the $750 - perhaps one night at our favorite resort in Big Sur - The Ventana Inn - or a run of personalized his and his barebackMasters.com something (our baseball hats cost $85 each!) - don't tell Cam!

thanks guys and gals - now back to figuring out how we can capitalize on our new all me movie...

cover IS hot by the way - we're going with XXX all the way for a change - fuck the soft core

[gaybucks_chip]

One other idea on the cover... if you're going totally hardcore, you might consider having the printer print the slipsheet double-sided, one side with a hardcore cover and the other identical, but with softcore images.

Costs only about 2-3 cents more per cover for double sided (depending on quantity you're printing and which printer), and the advantage is that if you have mom-and-pop stores that are in states that are iffy, they can display the non-hardcore cover. Also some liquor stores and convenience stores that carry a few adult titles here and there often don't want hardcore on their covers.

It is one complicating factor, but for $20 per thousand units (plus the cost of designing the nonexplicit cover), you only have to sell one or two more to pay for it, and you will probably find that some retailers might not take it with the explicit cover, so in my book, the savings can be worth it.

[gaybucks_chip]

btw, I might not have been clear... the $750 is the minimum fee that GS1 charges to register as a manufacturer, and that base fee will get you a pretty large number of barcodes (something like 200.) You do have to pay the annual renewal which, as I said, I think is about half, but I'm not sure.

I'll also say that the software you have to use to create the barcode numbers (NOT the actual barcode symbols, just to get the number assignments) is remarkably janky and clumsy to use. The whole thing is a pain in the ass, but it does work.

Once GS1 has assigned a barcode for your title, you also have to buy software separately to generate the barcodes, or use this

http://www.freebarcodes.com/Main.asp

which is serviceable and free, to generate a .tif or .bmp or whatever that you can insert onto your cover design.

[A_DeAngelo]

thanks chip - we're bar hoppin' now!