If you plan on your CD or DVD being sold in stores then you will need to add an appropriate barcode to the artwork. If you are selling the discs yourself at gigs or sending them out as promos then barcodes are not really necessary and it will save you money not having to register a unique barcode for each disc version/type that you produce.
First of all you need to decide where your discs are likely to be sold as North America and Europe have different barcode systems.
North America
If you want a US barcode then this would be a UPC-A type barcode and you would have to pay the Uniform Code Council for them to generate a unique number code for you (as each one is unique).
UPC standard bar codes consist of 12 digits:
1 digit of NS code
5 digits of maker code
5 digits of item code
1 checkdigit.
A UPC-A barcode looks like this:
Europe
In Europe you will need to pay the International Article Numbering Association to generate a unique barcode number of the EAN type (EAN 13). Once you have the number you can then generate the barcode yourself.
EAN 13 bar codes consist of 13 digits:
2/3 digits of flag code given from International EAN Association
5/4 digits of maker code
5 digits of item code
1 checkdigit.
A EAN 13 barcode looks like this:
If it is a European EAN number that you require, you can purchase a 13 digit EAN number from someone like http://www.barcode1.co.uk/ for £26. They will then give you graphic that you can drop into your artwork (otherwise use this site to generate the graphic from the number that you have been given: http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/generator/).
Sizes
The standard size for a barcode on a CD is 25mm x 37mm, however they can be reduced to 80% of that size to 20mm by 30mm.
In reality, the barcodes on CDs and DVDs are often shorter than this as they are often cropped off at the top to save height, however this is not officially recommended.
A selection of low prices for some of our most popular items. The prices include adding the contents to the discs, full colour printing on the discs and free UK courier delivery.
Print and burn your own CDs and DVDs by buying the blank discs, labels and packaging from our online store, including our unique and unusual business card size discs, mini 8cm circular discs, coloured CDs and vinyl-effect CDs in the style of old records.
