Optical Disc Packaging - External Marketing Packaging

External Marketing Packaging

In the U.S. and Canada, the jewel box of a music CD was originally packaged for retail sale in a large cardboard box called a longbox in order to fit in store fixtures designed for vinyl records, offer larger space for display of artwork and marketing blurbs, and deter theft. This box also provided a form of censorship if the store deemed a particular album cover potentially offensive to the public. This packaging was much-criticized as environmentally wasteful, and was eventually dropped by most retailers in the mid-1990s, though major record companies continued to ship CDs to wholesale clubs, such as Costco and Sam's, in longboxes into the 21st century. Longboxes were not used outside North America.

Around 1994, the top wrap-around label sticker began to appear on most CDs, to make it easier to read what each CD was from the top without having to flip through them. These stickers were usually nothing more than informational labels and rarely would have any use in the marketing of the album. The wrap-around sticker also provided an extra seal, possibly as another theft deterrent.

A chiefly Japanese packaging is the addition of an obi strip, a strip of paper wound around the side of the case to show details such as the price, artist, etc.