The questions we get asked most often are--

Q- What is your FTP site to upload our art too?

A- Simply go to www.yousendit.com/drop-box?dropbox=progressivecds

Q- What are IPR forms?

A- In order to protect our clients' intellectual property rights, we support IRMA's (the International Recording Media Association's), Anti Piracy Compliance Program recommendations. This means we keep an IPR form, or Intellectual Property Rights, on file..This document basically give Progressive Media permission to replicate your project and they state that you are the owner of the material we are replicating. Simply click on the link below and download the short 2 page document. Print it, fill it out and email with your signature to us at info@progressivecds.com .

CLICK HERE FOR THE IPR FORM

Q- Why are some companies too ashamed to post all or any pricing?

A- There are only 3 reasons. The first is essentially dishonesty. These INTERNET based companies are trying to "size you up" and give you a price based on your inexperience and how much cash they can squeeze from you- a lot like a the proverbial "used car lot". Companies like this are always "making you a deal", that is in reality no deal at all - after they hit you with all the sneaky add ons and grossly over charge for freight. It usually comes out to WAY MORE than what a savvy customer will pay when they use an established, legitimate 40 year old company, like Progressive Media. The second reason is that the company is about to file chapter 11 (bankruptcy), and are in a state of terrible confusion. Check their references and their PUBLISHED list of 1000's of happy clients (as Progressive and other honest companies do.) These sleazos will make any deal, just to keep the doors open - even if it means losing money, (usually its not always just theirs, but yours too when it all comes down). The last and only legitimate reason is that occasionally, a mega-large company who, out of necessity is weeding out the smaller 1000 to 5000 piece customers that are not their bread and butter. Because of our superior staff and over 3 decades of honest success, Progressive. Media services any size order from a single dub copy to more than 50,000 units. We can replicate a peak daily output of approximately 250,000 units a day, and still have the energy and excitement to help create and fulfill a 100 piece demo package for a music group.

Q- Why don't you send out fancy catalogue every month?

A- The simple answer is 30 years ago we opted to spend the money on great employees, superior manufacturing processes, and building up a national reputation based on referrals and word of mouth. We don't need to burn through 50 new relationships a week to make the money we need. We have fun providing effective, reasonably priced, excellent projects to the same happy clients year after year...

Q- Is it true that some companies pay kick backs to the studio you recorded at?

A- Sadly yes. "Partner" programs and the like are designed to influence the studio owner to refer you to one of the unholy trinity of recently merged mega companies. That kind of tainted advice from an engineer is
understandable when times are tough our they are just trying to squeeze the last penny out of your budget. But like the 30 pieces of silver, the pushing and prodding to go to a certian "PARTNER PROGRAM DUPLICATOR" comes with a high cost - TOO YOU!   Progressive Media's referral network is untainted by filthy greed - just decades of good service that studio owners know we will treat thier clients right WITHOUT A KICKBACK. Check it out! Some folks just can't resist a kickback.

Q- Why is Progressive Media the most trustworthy source for transferring my VHS, reels, lp's cassettes etc!

A-All your precious transfers are done here in house, (NOT SENT OUT), in our facility in Tampa, Florida - by our state of the art Equipment.

Do you really want to trust the only copy of irreplaceable precious memories to some low-ball Louie Internet outfit - that over and over our clients have found to their horror - comments like "Oh well your tapes never got here!" This is a typical response when when THE ONLY COPY IN EXISTANCE "got misplaced", "or supposedly never got there"

At Progressive here in Tampa Florida, all of your irreplaceable precious memories are properly catalogue and NEVER LEAVE THE IN- HOUSE TRANSFER DEPARTMENT

You also look us in the eye when we do business, here in the same Tampa Florida location for over 35 years! No sketchy pick up and delivery to goodness knows where - risking damage and loss by part timers trying to score fast bucks working out of a cheap apartment w/o a business license, alarm systems, insurance and OEM. Most importantly we have the built in trust of 1000's of Tampa Bay area family clients, The FBI, The State Prosecutor, Public Defenders, Insurance companies and lawyers of every stripe from the Tri County area.

When a low-ball Louie advertises some ridiculous price, you have to ask yourself (like Clint Eastwood), "Do You Feel Lucky" It's NEVER worth the dangerously high certainty of losing absolutely irreplaceable memories that ROUTINELY "get lost in the shuffle by sketchy no address "Discount" houses. Remember everybody charges what they know they are worth!

Q- How can I sell my product over the INTERNET?

A- You can easily form a relationship with a large Internet bookseller like Amazon.com. OR you can a pay a company that has no legitimate draw, (unless you consider other independent artists all looking at each other's albums) - , a HUGE COMMISION. These companies are usually "shilling" (a back door relationship with a referral or some other consideration exchanged ) for certain INTERNET based brokers. There has been a huge consolidation in the past year of several once competent INTERNET CD brokers and some on line cd sellers. This collusion and kick backs between companies like this is a disgrace and hark-ens back to the questionable days of "Vanity Record" publishing and "Pay for Play". (More on that below). You'll see nonsense like "free distribution with xxxx" There is no such thing as free, period. These INTERNET based selling sites generate little if no business. Over 90% of the leads (if they are straight enough to publish it), come straight from you and YOUR WEBSITE! Also while a customer is looking at your cd, they get to see annoying pop up ads that say something like "if you like this, then try listening to this..." driving your customer into the arms of someone else and out of yours... The solution - go ahead and list with the largest reseller in history Amazon. They are a legit company and provide a super-wide venue for your product. But stay away from independent NO NAMES that charge a $35 setup fee and the sleazy back door relationships with INTERNET brokers who "waive" this fee, like its some kind of special privilege. Plus these no name "on line resellers" charge $4.00 per transaction---UNBELIEVABLE! The best way to sell over the INTERNET is your own website, (We can advise you for free about this), and to use MYSPACE, FACEBOOK and YOUTUBE pages that are available for free!

Q- Why does Progressive Media get referrals from the biggest plant in the US??

A- Many years ago-the largest replication plant in the US sent out 2 letters to many of it's customers... One said  we no longer can do your 1000 pc orders, the other said we will do your small runs but only through our trusted, value added, Tampa, Florida based cd replication partner PROGRESSIVE MEDIA. All independent 1000 pc runs stopped and those smaller labels and bands customers are refereed directly to us. It's a win win. The longest running Duplication facility in the US, Progressive Media gets a ton of business
and our customers 1000 pc runs are done in the same building that SONY, MCA, all the major labels use!Your cd's will be duplicated right next to Sony and all the other big labels left standing.
Why? Because Progressive Media has proven itself over 40 years to be trust worthy, honest and forthright. Every member of our supply line team SENDS US CD & DVD REFFERALS BECAUSE WE PAY OUR BILLS, TREAT OUR VALUED
SMALL  RUN CUSTOMERS WITH SAME RESPECT AS OUR 50,000 cd runs! Please don't waste time teaching some knuckhead with just a website, living in his parent's basement. Beware the new-by brokers that promise the world and give you nothing but answering machines and emails. They have no partnership and trusted consistent relationship with the big dogs. We pick up their jobs all the time.THERE IS A REASON THE BIG PLANTS SEND US BUSINESS AND WE HAVE SURVIVED QUITE NICELY FOR OVER 40 YEARS. Check out our client list. Most our our clients are repeat business, not 1 or 2 titles, but their entire catalogue  - running into the hundreds of title. And THEY  HAVE KEPT COMING BACK FOR DECADES. The little Johnny Come Lately wannabes, (or worse the cheesy "Studio Partner Programs", where the referring studio actually gets a hidden kick back you are never aware of, meaning their advice is tainted by greed). like when they con you into sending you prize project to "CD INFANT", or you know who
Like the The unholy triumvirate of  3 shill companies, now a huge faceless corporate call center disguised as different entities,  jobbing out your prized project to the lowest sleazy bidder... .None of those companies actually own equipment - just one big call center oriented business, broken into 3 sub companies pretending to compete with each other. They will sometimes try to offload jobs to us when they have angered their little regional plants, or the tiny little understaffed and inexperienced plants just goes belly up! Losing your master, all your print, film and sometimes entire orders. Please be wary of the call center brokers, they have no equipment, just big advertising, fancy catalogue and predatory pricing too good to be true. They just send it on down the line and hope for the best. One of our newest labels got fed up of the run around and is bringing in a 40 plus title catalogue... all because the BROKER they went through was just that a ---BROKER--- They never had a solid count on inventory, files and print  just disappeared, all the mistakes BROKERS do on a regular basis because they lack the Progressive Media's experience,our amazing financial credit rating, unprecedented huge vendor partnerships and decades of hard won experience that PROGRESSIVE MEDIA has spent 4 decades learning and expanding on.

Q- Why are there corporations that hide their ownership?

A- In this economy, many once proud and reputable manufacturers were faced with bankruptcy or selling out to a larger corporate conglomerate "cartel". The advantage of these back door relationships is the ability to manipulate pricing and the marketplace, while still appearing to be independent. The average consumer is not aware that one group actually bought out several brokers and manufacturers, while pretending to be an independent retailer to sell your product Online. This of course is a huge conflict of interest - sort of like the studio engineer pushing the band to go to a particular duplicator without revealing to the band that they are getting a kick back from the duplicator!

Q- Why can't I talk with the same guy every-time I call one of those INTERNET based companies?

A- Another great question. At PROGRESSIVE MEDIA we have been owned and operated by the same folks for over 30 years. The CSR that handles your job knows it intimately from beginning to end. Each disc we replicate comes across the president's desk every day. We are a family owned business that are manufactures for the grandchildren in some cases of our first clients back in 1978. We are constantly evolving and changing with the times, always one step ahead of the curve. Ask your CSR about custom merch, like embroidery and shirts to sell at your gigs or to use as corporate ID. All this is in the same location for over 30 years!. See our huge client list.

Q- What about paying to be on a compilation album for "FREE" distribution to radio and record labels, and bogus "PROMOTIONAL KITS"?

A- The simple answer is "Run Will Robinson Run!" Don't be a sucker. This is a modern day scam based on the old vanity publishing trick has been around since the first 45rpm record was pressed. Of course there is the one example of the artist who managed to get placement, but what about the 1000's that didn't? If your song is as good as they claim it to be -THEY SHOULD BE PAYING YOU! Wake up and smell the latte! Anyone can get the same "Promotional Tool Kit" in any public library anywhere in the country, period. We make this "secret" information available to our clients during and long after the project - not just an underhanded empty promise to get your money. This is the first sign there is something "Rotten In Denmark" to quote the Bard.

Sad as it is, with the recent consolidations in the industry today, it's a real danger - call us for a list of companies that have gone belly up in the middle of projects, leaving clients high and dry with no master, no art and no $$$!

Q- What is the difference in your Retail Ready full color CD packages and the low-ball ones we see on the INTERNET?

A- Good question. When we replicate your CD's, DVD's & inserts, they are side by side on the exact same same machines with major labels like SONY, UNIVERSAL, RED Distribution, and artists like SIR PAUL MC CARTNEY and other big dogs. The quality is identical - because they are the ON THE EXACT SAME MACHINES!. Remember these aren't the cheesy ink jet inserts you see in the low-ball specials advertised on the web. The same is true for the discs, we have over 12 replication lines running 24/7 pushing out up to 250,000 CD's and DVD's a day. . We are an IRMA certified, RIAA inspected plant, with a flawless ISO 9001 certification. Ask Mr Sleazy Internet Boy if this is the case with them, and if he can even explain what that means!! Beware the "Johnny One shot" who brokers your job down to Mexico or Taiwan to save 1 or 2 pennies a disc. These guys may not pay the Phillips disc royalty are YOU can be hauled into court - long after they have filed chapter 11 bankruptcy. Another common trick is undersell just to keep the place open, a clear indication that bankruptcy is just around the corner. Of course the low-ball price is unbelievable - that's because there is no free lunch!

Q- Why would I ever want to have cdr's burned when we can press (replicate) cd's with Progressive Media?

A- The main advantage with our cdr's and cdr packages is the quick turn and low entry cost. Cdr's always sound like the master- we use the most expensive media on highly calibrated overpriced machines. All discs are one to one verified so each is a perfect clone of the original. There used to be compatibility issues with older cd players still on the market - but this is becoming less and less of a problem. DVDr's (burned DVD's) are still somewhat problematic, but the media has becomes more consistent we see this issue resolving itself.

Q- What about CDR package inserts and the all important disc imprint?

A- This is where EVERY cheesy fly by night low ball Louie duplicator falls on his face. Very few companies can afford a $14,000 printer to print glorious full color disc imprints. So they do print on disgusting home studio ink jet printers - a shocking disappointment and the last chance you will ever have to submit to that all important label or radio station again! When you put the cheesoid ink jet horror next to the photo realistic thermal PROGRESSIVE CDR imprint, there is zero comparison. The ink jet feels like it was printed on cheap sandpaper, where the PROGRESSIVE CDR imprint is indistinguishable from the most expensive offset disc imprint ever done - much higher quality than even than silk screen! We print our CDR inserts on the most expensive digital laser color proofer available - not the inferior ink jet you'll find in your mailbox after you've paid your money to guy on the other end of the email, or some intern answering the phone at one of he Frankenstein conglomerates. PROGRESSIVE MEDIA has been owned and operated by the same entity for over 30 years - so we have no choice but to do killer work!