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Barcodes for online CD sales.....


Wayne Firefly
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In theory you could make up any code that will validate and use that. In practice though you may inadvertently pick the same code that is being used by another product which could cause problems.

However, if you are also going to sell downloads via an aggregator service like CD Baby they will generate a code number for you as part of the service of getting your album on iTunes and Amazon and create barcodes that you can use on your physical product, so there is no need to buy a separate code.

Edited by BigRedX
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Sounds like a nightmare. Two of the three albums we have dont have barcodes and to get them on any of the bigger sites, I need to sort them out for each album. Was just hoping I could sort two out quite cheaply to use for good that would register these albums for online selling of physical CDs. The label that picked us up for the 2nd album in 2004, sorted the barcode etc for that release. Downloads will come later when I get my head round this 1st step !!!
Just wondering if anyone anywhere knew where barcodes could be bought outright instead of an annual fee or joining up with any PIA company.

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If you just need barcodes for your existing physical CDs then there are plenty of places on line that will sell you a one-off barcode number for under £10 per code. Make sure that you get the right code for where you want to sell. If you are only selling in the UK and Europe an EAN13 code will be what you need. However if you plan to sell in the USA you will need a UPC12 code as many places won't recognise the 13 digit EAN code. Luckily you can make the UPC12 code into an EAN13 one simply by adding a "0" at the front of the code.

The really expensive and time consuming bit will be getting the barcode onto stickers and then applying then to every CD. IME you need to get them professionally printed as poor quality barcodes that don't scan are one of the quickest ways of getting your product excluded from stores.

If you are planning to make the albums available for download through iTunes etc. then do this first and get your barcode through the aggregator that you use. This will save you paying twice for the code, because most aggregators will insist on selling you a barcode for downloads whether you already have one for the physical version or not.

Hope that helps.

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1427217994' post='2727436']
If you just need barcodes for your existing physical CDs then there are plenty of places on line that will sell you a one-off barcode number for under £10 per code. Make sure that you get the right code for where you want to sell. If you are only selling in the UK and Europe an EAN13 code will be what you need. However if you plan to sell in the USA you will need a UPC12 code as many places won't recognise the 13 digit EAN code. Luckily you can make the UPC12 code into an EAN13 one simply by adding a "0" at the front of the code.

The really expensive and time consuming bit will be getting the barcode onto stickers and then applying then to every CD. IME you need to get them professionally printed as poor quality barcodes that don't scan are one of the quickest ways of getting your product excluded from stores.

If you are planning to make the albums available for download through iTunes etc. then do this first and get your barcode through the aggregator that you use. This will save you paying twice for the code, because most aggregators will insist on selling you a barcode for downloads whether you already have one for the physical version or not.

Hope that helps.
[/quote]

yea, thats good info for me too, cheers.

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