Custom USB Drives Take Music to the Next Level

Did you know that more and more musicians are releasing their albums in custom USB drives? I’m talking about musicians like Kanye West, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson The White Stripes but also the rising indies who have maximized the benefits of promotional USB drives for musicians. And yes, they’re selling well.

Of course, it’s not something new. Matchbox Twenty released their compilation album, “Exile on Mainstream” in USB drive bracelets over a decade ago. Big record labels and indies now include USB drives in their album releases. One proof of how custom USB drives have surpassed the CD is during a gig by the band Chase Nova where they had both 50 CDs and 50 USB drives. After that night, they had 48 CDs and 10 USB drives left. That’s right, only 2 CDs sold versus 40 USB music drives.

In case you’re not quite sure whether to release in custom USB drives, allow us to convince you why it’s now a must. For one, USB drives have greater storage capacity unlike CDs and other former audio formats. So when you release an album in USB, you have the opportunity to store more data, even when they are in different media formats. You can put in your songs, photographs, artwork, music videos, band members’ profiles and other promotional things you can think of, all in one USB drive.

Yes, the price is much higher than the CD but it just has more value! It’s like selling a bunch of digital goodies to your fans! Another thing is that it can allow musicians to use WAV files without thinking if it can be playable on any type of player. As we all know, WAV files on CDs are not supported by CD players. They may play well on computers but they will most likely not play on a standalone CD player or in-car CD player. It can also store the other media formats in high resolution. Surely with these high-quality formats offered, fans will love it, and I’m sure they will prefer USB drives over CDs.

If you’re still reading this, then you are almost convinced to release your music through custom USB drives. Let us start with the design. There are so many cool USB sticks to get inspiration from, but let us not forget that USB drives are not limited to sticks. You can have USB music cards, which looks like your regular business card. In this kind of USB drive, you can have your artwork printed on the front and back, just like how you would with your CD j-card. Many artists prefer this because it’s pretty straightforward and more affordable to make. Plus, it can fit easily on your wallet.

There’s also the cassette tape-designed USB drives. This USB drive will surely catch the interest of cassette tape lovers and many other people as it is both old and modern.

You can also have regular rectangular flash drives put in a CD jewel case or digipak. This has less work on the flash drive’s appearance and more on the jewel case or digipak. Lastly, you can have a unique design specifically made for your Music USB drives. Companies that manufacture these kinds of promotional products now offer custom USB drives where you can customize not just the look of your USB drives, but the material used and the packaging.

You can think of any design you want and they’ll do their magic. So if you’re a musician, treat this as a collectible merch item instead of just a storage device for your music. There is no limit to what you can do…except maybe for the budget but now you can order as few as 10 pieces so there is no risk.

You can even have different designs for just one music or album release!

You can have the band members’ instruments as designs along with their name on the instrument they use. You can also have your USB drives designed with chibi versions of yourselves. In this way, fans may buy one for each design. You will not only have your album or music released but you will also build your brand and spoil your fans.

Custom USB drives have indeed taken music to the next level because USB drives cannot only store music but all other promotional content as well. Other music formats like cassette tapes, vinyl records, and CDs can only hold music, but not the USB drive. With the USB drive, you’re virtually limitless!