Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation (Sony DADC) is a manufacturer of CDs,

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

s, UMDs, and

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

s. The company has many plants worldwide. Although it primarily services

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

-owned

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...

, and

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game industry, video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is ma ...

, it also manufactures discs for other labels, home entertainment distributors, and video game publishers. Sony DADC's first plant, in

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

, opened May 2, 1983, and produced its first CD,

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

's ''

Born in the U.S.A. ''Born in the U.S.A.'' is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released by Columbia Records on June 4, 1984. It topped the charts in nine countries, including the US and UK, becoming his most commercially su ...

'', in September 1984. 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. The plant was initially a subsidiary of CBS/Sony Group, but Sony bought out CBS's stake in October 1985. When

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

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)

;

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada (plant closed in 2011);

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

(plant closed 2015); Salzburg, Austria; Mumbai, India; and

Manaus, Brazil Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the st ...

—all of which were originally manufacturers of vinyl

gramophone record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

s. These plants began manufacturing CDs later: Pitman in 1988, Manaus in 1992, and Toronto and Mexico City in 1994.

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

s, primarily 12-inch disc prints of feature films and concerts, were manufactured by Sony DADC in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of the laserdiscs made at DADC currently show

laser rot A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

, more than those from any ''other'' manufacturer. Sony DADC now manufactures the majority of CDs sold in the United States. In November 2008, the company bought the American disc-manufacturing capabilities of Glenayre Technologies, which manufactured the discs of

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. In the summer of 2009, the company assumed the physical distribution of

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

's North American operations. This left

WEA The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

as the only major label whose discs are not manufactured by the company, as its discs are manufactured by the operations of the former

WEA Manufacturing WEA Manufacturing was the record, tape, and compact disc manufacturing arm of WEA International Inc. from 1978 to 2003, when it was sold and merged into Cinram International, a previous competitor. The last owner when the plant closed was Techn ...

that were sold to

Cinram Cinram International was a Toronto, Canada-based manufacturer of pre-recorded Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, CD-Audio, CD-ROMs, VHS tapes and audio cassettes. It was an affiliate of the Arizona-based Najafi Companies. History Cinram was established in ...

. On August 8, 2011, a Sony DADC distribution center in Enfield was destroyed during the

2011 England riots The 2011 England riots, more widely known as the London riots, were a series of riots between 6 and 11 August 2011. Thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across England, which saw looting, arson, as well as mass deployment of police ...

. The warehouse was used by

independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

distributor PIAS Entertainment Group to distribute CDs, LPs, and DVDs for over 100 European independent labels. The total stock loss in the fire was reported to be between 3.5 million and 25 million units. On January 17, 2018, the DADC plant in

, announced that they would be laying off 375 employees, and shifting manufacturing of audio discs to another manufacturer,

Sonopress Sonopress (known as Arvato Entertainment from 2008-2015), is the CD and DVD replication business of Bertelsmann. Founded in 1958 to supply gramophone record for Bertelsmann's music club and music label businesses, Sonopress became the world's sec ...

. It was later determined that manufacturing of most audio discs would be facilitated by CDA Inc. The majority of audio discs manufactured for

US and

US are presently manufactured by CDA Inc, while the discs are packaged and assembled into jewel cases in the USA. Technicolor sometimes also assists in the facilitation of disc manufacturing for Universal Music Group US. On January 13, 2022, the DADC plant in

, announced that they would be laying off 100 employees, and shifting gaming and disc manufacturing capacity out of Terre Haute to Salzburg, Austria. Assembly and distribution will remain in

Sony DADC Plants

Manufacturing codes

Printed on the discs or packaging of Sony DADC-manufactured CDs are codes indicating master copies (matrix numbers) of discs. 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. * DIDP – Popular (i.e., non-classical) recordings released on Sony-affiliated record labels. * DIDX – Recordings pressed by DADC for release on non-Sony-affiliated record labels. * DIDY – Recordings pressed by the US division of DADC for the

Columbia House Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records ...

Record Club. * DIDZ – Recordings released on

Japan. (This code was only used from 1983 to 1985.) * CDRM - CD-ROM titles * LDVS - Standard Laserdiscs * LDTA - THX & AC-3 Laserdiscs * LDTX - THX Laserdiscs * LDAC - AC-3 Laserdiscs * DVSS - Single-layer DVDs * DVDL - Dual-layer DVDs * DDLD - "CD" side of DualDiscs * DDHD - DVD side of DualDiscs * AULD - "CD" side of DualDiscs containing DVD-Audio * AUHD - DVD side of DualDiscs containing DVD-Audio * SUSS - Single-layer Super Audio CDs * SUDL - Dual-layer Super Audio CDs * STLD or SULD - CD layer of hybrid Super Audio CDs * SUHD - Super Audio CD layer of hybrid Super Audio CDs * BVSS - Single-layer

s * BVDL - Dual-layer Blu-ray Discs * BHSS - Single-layer Hybrid Blu-ray Discs (discs containing both Blu-ray video and PlayStation 3 format software) * BHDL - Dual-layer Hybrid Blu-ray Discs (discs containing both Blu-ray video and PlayStation 3 format software) * USDL - Dual-layer Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs * USTL - Triple-layer Ultra HD Blu-ray discs * DRSS - DVD-ROM software titles * PSRM -

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titles * PTRM -

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CD-ROM titles * PDSS - PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM titles * PDDL - PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM Dual-layer titles * UPSS -

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UMD Single-layer titles * UPDL - PlayStation Portable UMD Dual-layer titles * BPSS -

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Blu-ray Disc Single-layer titles * BPDL - PlayStation 3 Blu-ray Disc Dual-layer titles * B4SS -

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

Blu-ray Disc Single-layer titles * B4DL - PlayStation 4 Blu-ray Disc Dual-layer titles * P5DL -

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...

Blu-ray Disc Dual-layer titles * P5TL - PlayStation 5 Blu-ray Disc Triple-layer titles

References

External links

Official Sony DADC−Digital Audio Disc Corporation website
{{Authority control 1983 establishments in Japan Compact disc Electronics companies established in 1983 Electronics companies of Japan Manufacturing companies based in Indiana Manufacturing companies of Japan Digital Audio Disc Corporation

Sony DADC Plants

Manufacturing codes

See also

References

External links