We can produce obi strips in-house to wrap around CD jewel cases, digipaks, and wallets, adding a collectors element to the CDs and also helping to keep the disc in place if used across the side of the wallet with the opening. The obi strip ‘bands’ are also easily replaced after use for easier storage.
Obi strips originate from Japan (their name comes from the sash worn around a Kimono) on CDs, cassettes, books, games or vinyl releases where presentation of the item is important and they can contain useful additional information such as barcodes (to avoid spoiling the artwork on the item itself with a barcode), tour dates and pricing. CD obi strips have often become collectors items and can greatly enhance the value of a release if retained. Our CD obi strips are not fixed to the packaging at all, so will not be damaged when removed, they just slip off the cases, digipaks, or wallets and can be replaced again afterwards.
Our CD obi strips are full colour printed onto a high quality 200gsm matt card. By request we can also print onto brown Manila, recycled and heavyweight gloss or matt card stocks, although they will add a little to the unit cost.
Additional info
Additional info
Do you need a barcode?
If you will be selling your discs through a retail store then you will probably need to register a unique barcode for your release and apply it to the rear outer artwork of your product to make it possible for them to sell via their product barcode scanner.
In Europe we use the EAN 13 barcode system and in North America the UPC system is used. We can register an EAN 13 barcode for you and embed the barcode graphic within your disc packaging artwork. The only information that we will require from you will be the name of the band/artist and the title of the release, then just leave a suitable space in your artwork and we will register the barcode and add it to your artwork for you.
Click here to order a barcode.
Have you considered NFC tag stickers?
If you would like customers to be able to tap your cassette tape, CD, USB, VHS or just about anything else on their Android or Apple phone to open up a web page, music video, specific Spotify artist page, album or track then just include NFC (Near Field Communication) tag stickers with your order and we can then apply them to your product.
These tags measure 19mm x 12mm in size, use an NTAG213 chip with clear PET and a strong adhesive back. They have a strong field for their size and are very durable.
Click here to order NFC tag stickers.
How to place an order
An order can be created by selecting the required product options above and adding them to your order. If you have your audio and artwork files ready, you can upload them at this stage. This process will generate a quote, which will be emailed to you and our admin team. No payment is required at this point.
A member of our team will then be in touch, generally within 1-2 working days, to check your quote and artwork and discuss your order. Should you then wish to proceed, they will email you an invoice for payment before we start production.
If you wish to upload your files at a later date or have any issues uploading via our website, you can also send your files to us via WeTransfer.
Any questions?
There are often many questions that customers may have that are not answered above, in which case please do not hesitate to pick up the phone or email us and we will try to help. Our contact details can be found here.
We also have an extensive CD production FAQs section which may help to answer your questions.
Templates
Templates
Please add your artwork to the relevant templates below. The solid pink lines are the cut lines where the elements will be trimmed and blue dashed lines are fold lines. Please don’t place text or logos right next to the cut edges as it needs a bit of padding to looks its best and because there can be slight shifts when printing or cutting and you don’t want any text to be trimmed off. With backgrounds, please extend these to the edge of the canvas beyond the pink cut line as this will create a bleed margin and avoid any white edges when cutting.
The templates are Adobe Photoshop editable PDF files setup to the correct size and at a resolution of 600dpi and in a CMYK colour space. When sending the files to us you can either send us maximum quality JPEG files with the guideline layer hidden, or you can send us maximum quality PDFs or Photoshop PSD files.
- Download CD wallet obi strip artwork template (PDF download)
- Download CD digipak obi strip artwork template (PDF download)
- Download CD jewel case obi strip artwork template (PDF download)
- Download CD jewel case end wrap obi strip (Japanese style with no glue) artwork template (PDF download)
