Common questions

– For private individuals, VAT is always included and paid directly when ordering from the webstore. This applies to all private individuals within the EU. All companies that are registered and which operate within the EU can however purchase without VAT directly from the webstore by giving a valid VAT/EORI number when ordering. – You can check here whether your company has a valid VAT/EORI number.

– All private individuals and companies that are registered in countries outside the EU, purchase without VAT from the webstore.

– All customers outside the EU then pay VAT and customs declaration duty in connection with the delivery of the ordered goods/products. These (VAT and customs duty) are paid into a separate account held by DHL (the cargo shippers that we use). CDs, DVDs and vinyl records are all duty-free goods, but there is a small duty charge (approx. 15-20 Euro) for the processing of the customs declaration.

– The Taric number (the static product code) that is used to clear digital media (CDs and DVDs) through customs is 85234939.

– The Taric number (the static product code) that is used to clear analogue media (vinyl records) through customs is 85234920.

– NCB, which stands for “Nordic Copyright Bureau”, has its head office in Copenhagen and is a music organization that is owned by STIM, together with its corresponding performing rights societies in the other Nordic countries. NCB works with licencing and legal protection of music in films, on TV, record publishing, downloading of music etc. The sector that NCB is responsible for are called mechanical licences

– which are different from licences that cover the performance of music – the sector that STIM is responsible for. In short, you can say that NCB administers and receives payment for mechanical licences and agreements with music users, but royalties are paid to creators via STIM. Such payments are listed as “mechanical rights” on the proof of payment from STIM – The Swedish Composers International Music Society.

– NCB is jointly owned by the “Nordic Performing Rights Societies”, which comprises KODA in Denmark, STEF in Island, STIM in Sweden, TEOSTO in Finland and TONO in Norway.

– A catalog number is in the music industry a unique code combination that the record companies or artists mark each released record with and are usually printed on the back of the record cover together with the name of the artist and the record and the record company (if there is such a thing).

The catalog number, which you invent yourself, must consist of 2 – 7 letters followed by a maximum of 7 digits. Usually, the directory number consists of an abbreviation of the record company’s name, followed by the serial number of the record.

Example: Artist Sparrowhawk’s first release was given the catalog number SH001

– Click the link –  – and you’ll come to NCB’s website for licence applications. Then follow the step-by-step guide a little way down on the page and choose DiscRepublic.com as your “factory”. When the application is completed, you’ll get an acknowledgment from NCB, which gives us authorization to press your music/video production.

– Of course! We save and archive all incoming and produced material for at least five (5) years. You can therefore easily place a repeat order by logging in to “My pages” and choosing “Buy again”.

– We normally deliver all our packaged productions within approx. 14 workdays – calculated from the date that you approve the print proof sheet from our graphic designers.

For vinyls:  12-15 weeks delivery time.

We reserve the right however to extend delivery times sometimes in the case of A) major editions, B) when demand is exceptionally high or C) when the ordered production includes some form of special option.

– Orders for private individuals and companies are usually sent by DHL Express Economy Select. Delivery time within Europe is then 1-5 workdays**.

– Orders for private individuals and companies who have chosen express delivery are sent by DHL Express Worldwide. Delivery time within Europe is then 1-2 workdays**.

– As soon as your order is sent by us, you get an email with a tracking link where you can follow the pack(s) on their way to your home!

** = For more remote addresses that are located outside DHL’s daily delivery routes, delivery is as soon as possible.

– Of course! It’s fine if you want to send a physical master copy by post. Send it in this case in a padded and well sealed envelope to the following address: 

DiscRepublic.com
Att: Master
Renvägen 10
SE-352 45 VÄXJÖ
Sweden

– If you upload your master copy via the digital file upload, you will see an acknowledgement message on the screen when the upload is completed. All incoming master copies undergo a technical check – and you get an acknowledgement message via email when your master copy is checked, tested and approved.

– If your master copy seems strange, or simply corrupted, we’ll contact you as soon as possible! – More specific questions about master copy processing and similar are answered by the following address: master@discrepublic.com 

– For music productions on CDs, we strongly recommend DDP files, alternatively uncompressed audio files in WAV or AIFF format. But it also works well with file types NRG, BIN & CUE, IMG, DMG, FLAC and MP4. NOTE! If your master copy CD consists of several separate audio files, we recommend that you attribute each separate file with a track number and song title. Example: “01-My first audio.wav”. We also recommend that you put your separate audio files into a folder and compress (zip) the entire folder before you upload it to our file server.

– For sound book productions on CD, we recommend MP3 files, catalogued and sorted by chapter and upload order.

– For DVD and Blu-ray productions, we recommend complete disc images in ISO format. It also works well with AUDIO_TS-/VIDEO_TS and BDMV catalogues – alternatively uncompressed video files, with embedded soundtrack, in MP4 and MKV format.

– – For music productions on vinyl and cassettes, we recommend uncompressed audio files in the format WAV or AIFF. Combine tracks for each A / B side in seperate wav-file included pauses along with your “tracksheet”.

– Uncompressed audio in 44.1 kHz and 16-bit depth.

– We use CDs with a maximum capacity of 80 minutes of audio material. We recommend however, for reasons of compatibility, that the total duration of the material does not exceed 74 minutes (including the pregap and pauses). This is because older CD players may have problems handling CDs without a pregap, and playing times that exceed 74 minutes.

– The short answer is “no”. We at DiscRepublic.com do not do any mastering or studio work. We always assume that the audio files you have sent us is fully mastered.

– Yes, we can most probably convert your files into a fully working format. But there may be a handling cost for the conversion process, so please ask us first!

– Specific questions on file format, compatibility and any conversions are answered by the following address: master@discrepublic.com 

– Yes, that works fine. But you should be aware that MP3 is a compressed audio file format and that the audio quality of your CD production will be adversely affected by this.

– It is completely up to you as customer. Sometimes, you want two songs to “blend together” and crossfade seamlessly. Then there should clearly not be any pause between them. We at DiscRepublic.com recommend however that you always add a “pregap” – also called index or prepause – before the disc’s first track. If you do not have a pregap, there is a real risk that the CD will be hard to play, or completely unplayable, in older CD players.

– NOTE! If you send in your master copy in the form of separate audio files (for example WAV files); we add a standard two-second (2 sec.) pregap before each track on the master copy. If you do not want any pauses between tracks – or if you want to have pauses of various lengths – you must of course tell us when you place your order, or in the message box when you upload your files to us.

– The highest possible resolution a DVD can render is 720 x 480 pixel in PAL format (720 x 576 pixel in NTSC format). All video files and DVD master copies with a higher resolution than this will be automatically recoded at the correct resolution.

– A DVD5 (with storage capacity of approx. 4.7GB) holds 136 minutes – 2 hours and 16 minutes of video at the highest possible DVD quality.

– A DVD9 (with storage capacity of approx. 8.5GB) holds 247 minutes – 3 hours and 7 minutes of video at the highest possible DVD quality

– The highest possible resolution a Blu-ray can render is 4K Ultra HD, i.e. 3840 x 2160 pixel. But for a “standard Blu-ray”, the resolution is most often rendered at 1920 x 1080 pixel, i.e. HD quality in image format 16:9.

– Yes for sure! Under each separate product in the webstore, there are editable templates available in PDF and InDesign format. Download your preferred template, open it up in your layout programme and then add your layout in separate layers (do not delete the template layer itself).

– If you upload your layout/artwork via the digital file upload, you will see an acknowledgement message on the screen when the upload is completed. All incoming artwork/layout files are checked – and you get a digital PDF proof sheet for approval via email when your files are checked and approved.

– Should your artwork/layout files seem corrupted, or in need of editing, we’ll contact you as soon as possible! – More specific questions about layout, print file processing and similar are answered by the following address: print@discrepublic.com

– We prefer Illustrator EPS, Photoshop PSD or editable PDFs – but we accept most file formats. It is however important that typeface (texts) is converted into vector paths/curves/outlines. All images and hyperlinks must be embedded in the documents too.

– We can also accept print material such as images (for example TIFF files), but they must be of high resolution, and contain at least 300dpi. The images must also be in CMYK (please use the Coated FOGRA39 profile that is available for selection in Photoshop).

– Illustrator: Flag the text object and press Ctrl+Shift+O (PC), Cmd+Shift+O (MAC)

– InDesign: Flag the text object and press Ctrl+Shift+O (PC), Cmd+Shift+O (MAC)

– NOTE! If the text is not converted into vector paths/curves/outlines, there is a charge for this processing! 

– The short answer is “not really”. MS Word, Pages, Powerpoint, Keynote and Publisher (just to name a few of the most common software programmes for PC and MAC) are not at all suitable software for the processing and creation of original files for printing. Colour processing in these programmes is poor to put it mildly, and there is a great difference between what you see on the screen and what comes out of the printer.

– There is also a multitude of Photoshop imitations (which are often free to download and install), but which do not really live up to the original quality.

– Of course! Graphic layout help is easy to select as an option when you order a production. Please email your idea, after placing the order, as to how you want your production to look: print@discrepublic.com. Don’t forget to give your order number in the email! 

– A 12” LP, cut at 33.3 RPM, holds max. 23 minutes of music per side depending on the audio contents’ dynamic and total volume.

– A 12” Maxi single, cut at 45 RPM, holds max. 14 minutes of music per side depending on the audio contents’ dynamic and total volume.

– A 7” EP, cut at 33.3 RPM, holds max. 6.4 minutes of music per side depending on the audio contents’ dynamic and total volume.

– A 7” single, cut at 45 RPM, holds max. 5 minutes of music per side depending on the audio contents’ dynamic and total volume.

– Vinyl record productions are delivered within 12-15 weeks – calculated from the date that you approve the print proof sheet from our graphic designers.

– Yes, no problem! We offer vinyl record production in an array of both solid and transparent colours for a small additional cost. Please ask us – at the following address: order@discrepublic.com – and we’ll give you further details!