11/21/2024
Real heads remember the CD Longbox! These date back to the early CD days, when record stores and businesses weren't sure how to display and market CDs. All their shelving were built for 12" records, CDs would look ridiculous when dwarfed by the massive wooden displays meant to hold large vinyl upright. This, coupled with worries of shoplifting, lead to the design of the CD Longbox.
So what is it? It's a large cardboard box that houses the CD jewelcase inside. Some artists made use of the extra length of artwork, but many record labels just pasted the square image artwork in the center and called it a day. REM, on the other hand, used the longbox as a form to send to your local elected representative to petition for easier voter registration laws. Since most music buyers were tossing out their longboxes and not keeping it in their collection, artists like David Byrne campaigned to get rid of the packaging format altogether. When it became apparent that CDs were there to stay, record stores complied and adapted with more disc-friendly store displays.
And thus the CD Longbox remains a footnote in CD packaging history. However, every now and then we get an email from a band who's clamoring on bringing the longbox back as a deluxe package. We spent our time getting it right, but we finally created a design for a printable longbox to house your CD jewelcase releases! Inside is a structure holding your jewelcase firmly in place. Send us an email or DM for quotes!
