Cantrell-Barnes makes music look good

Cantrell is vice president and co-owner of Cantrell-Barnes Printing Inc., a full-service printing company that offers high-quality offset printing of magazines, brochures, books, flyers, posters, labels, magnets, business cards and newsletters.

While commercial printing is still its bread and butter, the digital age has added a new element.

Cantrell-Barnes has added a Disc Works division in the last five years to serve the CD/DVD markets.

Cantrell has been a musician for years, and after doing a number of projects involving CD/ DVD packaging, he felt getting into the duplication/replication of the discs was a logical step.

He quickly found that the disc business is not limited to music or video.

“One big reason I felt like we needed to get involved in CDs was (that) we have a major client – a missionary house here in town – that has a big, thick directory of all their missionary houses around the world,” Cantrell says of Baptist Bible Fellowship International. “They said, ‘We’re going to put that on CD-ROM.’ I thought, ‘I could do that. We need to do that, because we were going to lose a lot of that printed material, which was a big part of our business.’”

Cantrell now supplies other elements on CD that used to be delivered exclusively on paper.

“If an ad agency has a client who has 25 distribution points throughout the country, they’ll put all of the logos and related materials on a CD so everyone has the exact same information,” he says. “When the company puts newspaper or magazine ads in, it’s all going to look uniform.”

Perfect fit

Music CDs were a perfect fit for the company since many local artists – beginning with Boxcar Willie back in the 1980s – already were coming to Cantrell-Barnes for their packaging needs.

Cantrell says local musician/ studio owner/record producer Lou Whitney encouraged him to pursue this avenue. They were working on a CD project for a local charity in 2000, and the opportunity arose.

“The first CD (replication) we did was ‘Chili Mix 1’,” Cantrell says. “Lou and I put that together as a benefit for The Boys and Girls Club.”

The next gig was big.

“Big Smith was making their first record, and they asked me if I could just handle the whole thing,” Cantrell recalls.

Disc Works was under way.

Mark Bilyeu is a founding member of Big Smith and owner of Springfield-based MayApple Records. He sees Cantrell-Barnes as an asset to the Springfield music scene.

“They’ve printed up around 25 releases for the MayApple label,” Bilyeu says. “I think Dave recognizes the great talent in this area and, being a musician himself, recognizes the needs of local artists.”

Cantrell says his musical background helps him appreciate the lengths the artists go to in making their music as good as it can be.

“Our goal is to make the packaging as good as it can be, too. It helps sell the record,” he says. “The music has to be good, but like the old LPs, if it looks attractive, someone’s bound to pick it up and say, ‘I wonder how it sounds?’”

Lean McKay, a Springfield artist and graphic designer, designed the Boxcar Willie CD that was Cantrell-Barnes’ first foray into the CD packaging arena. She’s since worked with Cantrell-Barnes on hundreds of projects of every kind and appreciates the company’s diligence.

“Cantrell-Barnes has been able to keep on top of the changing technology, and they do pay attention to detail,” she says. “Their customer service is excellent. When you’re dealing directly with the owner, I think that adds a personal touch.”

Digital media

While roughly a quarter of Cantrell-Barnes’ business is CD/DVD related, Cantrell sees a changing tide in the way music and video is distributed. “It has evolved,” Cantrell says of the Disc Works division, noting that he’s prepared for continuing changes.

“Unfortunately, the CD market is going to be slowing down because of flash drives and everything else,” Cantrell says. “But it’s still a growing business. I still see it as a viable industry.

“The music business is changing – with downloading and Internet file sharing. The thing is, with digital media, you don’t get the packaging. But I think people are always going to want to look at the artwork, read the lyrics, see who played on the record.”

The Playlist

Cantrell-Barnes Printing’s Disc Works division has done work for hundreds of bands. Here’s a sampling:

• Big Smith

• 4 A Cross

• JahRoots

• Jonathan Bentley

• Joy Bilyeu

• Justin David

• Lift

• Lonesome Road

• Loose Ends

• Don Shipps

• Thirst ’n’ Howl

• Happyendings

• Carrie Beason

• Brian Capps

• Ozark Mountain Daredevils

• Moore-Healey

• Jennifer Rothschild

Cantrell-Barnes Printing Inc. and Disc Works

Owners: Robert Cantrell, David D. Cantrell and Karen Cantrell

Founded: 1982

Address: 1630 E. St Louis St., Springfield, MO 65802

Phone: (417) 862-2212

Fax: (417) 866-1113

Web site: www.cantrellbarnes.com

Services: Commercial printer

Employees: 14[[In-content Ad]]