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What is a Digipak?

 

A Digipak is a CD case , which is used to represent and promote a genre of music or an artist, and is usually seen as a 'Special Edition' CD case. The way a Digipak is folded is called a 'gatefold', meaning it is opened like a book, rather than a generic CD case.  A Digipak consists of a insert, spine and front, the insert being a booklet containing information about the Artist,pages devoted to pictures of the Artist, and sometimes the lyrics of songs and different information to do with the record label and producers. 

 

A Digipak is typically made of out cardboard, which is of a patented finish, giving it a shiny interior and exterior, compared to conventional CD cases which are made of plastic. Digipaks also have to be ergonomic, meaning they must be able to be easy and accessible to the audience. Most Digipaks are brightly coloured to make them stand out to customers whilst on shelves in shops. 

Digipaks can include reviews from magazines, newspapers or music critics, showcasing how good the album is. Can also include stickers on the front of the Digipak, promoting certain singles and well known songs within the album, which might be more well known by people who are browsing through shelves. 

What are the dimensions of a Digipak?

 

To the left you can see a typical  template for a Digipak, with 4 panels, including a front, back and tray for the CD to be encased in. Another typical Digipak style is having Six panels, giving the artist the opportunity to showcase more images of their work, promoting some of their songs more, this also gives the consumer a much more interesting album, and is especially pleasing to huge fans of the artist or band. 
 

The dimensions of a Digipak are 5.53" x 0.25" x 5", this is the normal size for a CD case. 


 

Above you can see an image of what a blank Digipak looks like, you can see the spaces for 2 CD's and a front, back and the spine. The picture on the right hand side also shows you how a Digipak opens up, showing where the images would be and where the CD's themselves would sit.

How do Digipaks benefit the Artist?
Digipaks benefit the artist in many different ways. For example they tend to stick to specific theme that links with the artist. This can sometimes be used to promote the artists musical message, the Digipak allows them to show this message not only through their song lyrics but also through pictures and colours, this could make the artist a lot more popular. 

Sometimes artists will use a Digipak to promote a single, with images and colours on the Digipak, linking in with the music video for that single. This type of marketing can prominently promote the artists single, making them once again more popular. This is also a opportunity for true fans of the artist who may collect Digipaks, to buy this Digipak for the single and also to show their loyalty to the artist, bringing in more money and recognition.

However a negativity affecting the artist about Digipaks is that because a lot of music is now leaked illegally and is illegally downloaded, it means that not as many people will be purchasing Digipaks, meaning the artist have wasted or lost a lot of money producing and distributing the extensive range of art work and CD cases for no reason because of the high amount of people illegally downloading music nowadays.  
 

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