ALL - Digipaks

Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pak is often used generically, even when the media holder is a hub or "Soft Spot" rather than a full plastic tray.  

Source - Wikipedia 

 

Codes and Conventions of a Digipak:

• Front with the album artwork accompanied with the artist name and the album title
• Back cover typically with the tracklist including time of the songs. The back cover also typically contains:
• Bar Code
• QR code (becoming more common)
• Smallprint with copyright laws written
• Website for the artist
• Twitter/Facebook sites (becoming more common)
• Usually the bands record label logo can be seen
• Inside the digipak there is sometimes text displaying the names of the composers for each song in smaller print than the song title
• There is sometimes a small handout which contains further artwork, maybe some images of the artist playing live or possibly lyrics
• The actual CD can usually be found in the main part of the digipak in a plastic holder with two panels to each side
• Some digipaks have two cd's within the card case. One for the actual CD and another for behind the scenes or some sort of DVD
• Stickers are usually found on the front of the digipak saying "includes "...." in this album!"
• The outside of the digipak can use very bright and inviting colours to make it attractive on the shelve and then use darker colours inside the actual digipak.
• Digipaks are seen as the LP's of this century and can be seen as a collectable like LP's as they are much more interesting than a standard jewel case. 
• The spine of the digipak usually has the artist name, album name

Advantages of a digipak rather  than a standard Dual Case

• You can recycle the material used to make the digipak  as it is cardboard not plastic
• A digipak is cheaper to produce, making the distribution cost cheaper.
• A digipak is a more up to date version of an LP which is basically a 12'' square cardboard, showing a resemblance to a digipak. 
• They cannot crack like Dual cases can, however they could rip or eventually over time fall apart.

From research online I found a wide range of bands using digipaks in our genre showing that there is a market for them. 

However most notably Muse's most recent album "The Resistance" had three versions of the album for sale. 

The standard one was just a CD.

then for slightly more there was a CD+DVD 

Then finally there was a "deluxe edition" for a high cost which contained:
 
- CD+DVD in foldout softpak including The Making Of The Resistance DVD (43 minutes 53 seconds)
- 180g Double heavyweight vinyl
- Muse USB pre-loaded with WAV, Apple Lossless and MP3 320 files plus bespoke audio player
- 12" Art Print

This shows that there is a clear audience that is interested in buying the high budget collectables.

The Resistance - Deluxe Edition