Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation

Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation (Sony DADC) is a manufacturer of Compact Discs, DVDs, UMDs, and Blu-ray Discs. The company has many plants worldwide. Although it primarily services Sony-owned record labels, it also manufactures discs for other labels.

Sony DADC's first plant, in Terre Haute, Indiana, opened May 2, 1983,^[1] and produced its first CD, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., in September 1984.^[2] It was the first CD manufacturer in the United States, is the company's principal CD manufacturing facility, and is the company's research and development center.^[1]

The plant was initially a subsidiary of CBS/Sony Group, but Sony bought out CBS's stake in October 1985.^[3]

When Sony bought CBS Records in 1988, it acquired that company's manufacturing facilities, some of which later became part of Sony DADC. Among these are the plants in Pitman, New Jersey (closed in 2011^{[citation needed]}); Terre Haute, Indiana; Toronto, Canada; Mexico City; Salzburg, Austria; Mumbai, India; and Manaus, Brazil—all of which were originally manufacturers of vinyl gramophone records. These plants began manufacturing CDs later—Pitman in 1988,^[4] Manaus in 1992,^[5] and Toronto^[4] and Mexico City^[4] in 1994.

Sony DADC now manufactures the majority of compact discs sold in the United States.^{[citation needed]} In November 2008, the company bought the disc-manufacturing capabilities of Glenayre Technologies, which manufactured the discs of Universal Music Group.^[6] In the summer of 2009, the company assumed the physical distribution of EMI's North American operations.^[7] This leaves WEA as the only major label whose discs are not manufactured by the company.^{[citation needed]}

On August 8, 2011, a Sony DADC distribution center in Enfield was destroyed during the 2011 England riots.^[8][9] The warehouse was used by independent music distributor PIAS Entertainment Group to distribute CDs, LPs, and DVDs for over 100 European independent labels.^[10] The total stock loss in the fire was reported to be between 3.5 million^[11] and 25 million^[12] units.

Manufacturing codes

Printed on the discs and/or packaging of some CDs are codes indicating master copies (matrix numbers) of discs used in the Sony DADC plants. These codes begin with a 4-letter prefix followed by a series of digits. Common prefixes include the following:

• DIDC – Classical recordings released on Sony-affiliated record labels.^{[citation needed]}
• DIDP – Popular (i.e., non-classical) recordings released on Sony-affiliated record labels.^{[citation needed]}
• DIDX – Recordings pressed by DADC for release on non-Sony-affiliated record labels.^{[citation needed]}
• DIDY – Recordings pressed by the US division of DADC for the Columbia House Record Club.
• DIDZ – Recordings released on WEA Japan. (This code was only used from 1983 to 1985.)
• CDRM - Software titles
• DVSS - Single-layer DVDs
• DVDL - Dual-layer DVDs
• DRSS - DVD-ROM software titles
• PSRM - PlayStation titles
• PTRM - PlayStation 2 CD-ROM titles
• PDSS - PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM titles

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Sony DADC - Terre Haute, Indiana". http://www.sonydadc.com/opencms/opencms/sites/am/About_Us/Americas_Facilities/Terre_Haute_IN.html. Retrieved 2009-11-05. 
2. ^ Jerse, Dorothy (2009-09-19), Terre Haute Tribune-Star, http://www.tribstar.com/history/local_story_262200740.html, retrieved 2009-11-05 
3. ^ "CBS-Sony Deal", New York Times, 1985-10-19 ^{[page needed]}
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Sony DADC - Toronto, Canada". http://www.sonydadc.com/opencms/opencms/sites/am/About_Us/Americas_Facilities/Canada.html. Retrieved 2009-11-05. 
5. ^ "Sony DADC - Brazil". http://www.sonydadc.com/opencms/opencms/sites/am/About_Us/Americas_Facilities/Manaus_Brazil.html. Retrieved 2009-11-05. 
6. ^ "Fisher's Distribution Company Sold to Sony" (3 November 2008). Retrieved from Inside Indiana Business.com on December 15, 2009.
7. ^ "EMI to Outsource Distribution" (1 April 2009). Retrieved from All Access.com on March 2, 2011.
8. ^ Davoudi, Salamander (8 August 2011). "Indie labels hit by warehouse arson attack". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c2299f28-c289-11e0-9ede-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1UYUqabFn. Retrieved 9 August 2011. 
9. ^ "More than 1.5m CDs destroyed in Sony warehouse fire". BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat (BBC). 11 August 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/14490635. Retrieved 2011-08-11. 
10. ^ "Labels react to Sony/PIAS warehouse fire". Pitchfork Media. 9 August 2011. http://pitchfork.com/news/43478-labels-react-to-sonypias-warehouse-fire/. Retrieved 9 August 2011. 
11. ^ "Independent record labels detail fire recovery plans". BBC News. 18 August 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/14579343. Retrieved 19 August 2011. 
12. ^ Smirke, Richard (15 August 2011). "BPI establishes fund for indie labels impacted by London riots". Billboard. http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/bpi-establishes-fund-for-indie-labels-impacted-1005316412.story. Retrieved 17 August 2011. 

External links

• Sony DADC official site