Free Recital DVD's for Dance Teachers/Staff

[Vince Pachiano]

So a new client has asked for several free copies for the teachers/staff.
I'm fine with that, since the Teachers ordinarily don't order a Recital DVD.

My question is what to give them.
For paying customers, I give a Custom Printed DVD, DVD Case, and custom printed case inserts.
Should I give the same for the free-copies, or just a DVD in a plain paper sleeve.
And, it's not the cost of the DVD case, it's the drudgery of printing/cutting inserts, and inserting them into the DVD case ;-)

[Steven Davis]

Two or three is usually fine with me, 5 or 10 is a little different. Either way, I'd make sure it's a marketing opportunity and have plenty of your marketing materials in the copies. Another option of course is to put it on line and give the teachers a lifetime link.

[Kyle Root]

I always give 5-10 complete copies free.

But - for me, I cram everything onto 1 disc that sometimes maxes out at 2 hours long. I use Kunaki to do all my duplication, so for 10 extra discs, it's a total of like $17.50. I'm ok with that.

For years and years, we used to give the studio $5 from every copy sold... so for some of the larger studios we were doing, we'd be cutting them a check for $500-$600. That hurt.

Moving forward, I'm moving away from DVD delivery and going to push digital downloads and online viewing of the individual dances, or entire show. My goal is to have the studios assess each recital participant a $15 "media fee" which will guarantee everyone access to the files, as that's the only way to make it fair. Because digits are easily copied once downloaded, and we all know how that goes.

So, if the studio has 100 students, they collect the money and write me a check for $1,500.

I will still offer DVDs, but this way I get a for sure minimum amount and everyone gets the chance to view things in High Definition and not lowly SD. lol

[Jeff Pulera]

I have always provided free copies to dance staff as needed as a courtesy. They will want to review the choreography and such and it's a good gesture to supply them with the videos at no charge, after all they have let you come in and make a bunch of money off what they are doing, right?

I will second the suggestion of Kunaki - makes no sense for me to mess with the "drudgery" when I can get full-color printed DVDs in a full-color case with shrink-wrap for about 2 bucks each. My time is too valuable to be making dozens or hundreds of discs and printing and packaging them.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera

[Steven Davis]

Kunaki, interesting. Never heard of them. Any other helpful info about using them?

[Kyle Root]

I made the switch to them this year.

Simple. And a great product.

It's basically break even on the COGS and the fact I have 0 time invested afterwards is the best!

[Jeff Pulera]

Originally Posted by Steven Davis

Kunaki, interesting. Never heard of them. Any other helpful info about using them?

kunaki.com

Absolute no-frills DVD duplication. You will have to read ALL the FAQ stuff on their site, it is really self-service, don't look for tech support. Basically, you create a master DVD as you normally would, and you also create the graphics to be printed on the DVD, case wrap, and optional insert inside case using their template dimensions.

They have a compiler that runs in a web browser. You load the graphics you created, and can preview the results in realtime, so you will know if the graphics fit/line up as intended - it shows you a virtual case that you can rotate, open up, etc to check results. You also insert your finished DVD and it reads it, then compiles all the graphics and DVD content into a single .exe file, which you then run/upload to them (takes many hours to upload, but it can handle interruptions and resume later).

Once uploaded to them, you can order copies to be sent to you, or they can fulfill and send direct to your customers. You can also set up a simple ordering page for the public. You set the price, Kunaki sells and ships, they take their cut and you get the rest.

As a new customer, you can opt for them to send a FREE proof DVD of your uploaded project to check results before ordering in quantity.

They don't offer Dual-Layer DVD or multi-DVD sets. Just ONE DVD 4.7GB, take it or leave it. But the price is right and I've been happy with the results, whether ordering 10 or 110. Did I mention the DVD is shrink-wrapped also? And they can put UPC codes on if you want, but I haven't tried that. I think the whole factory operation must be fully robotic ;-)

I shot 5 recitals over the past weekend and will be uploading them all to Kunaki as always.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Digital Vision