![]() Stampers wear out over time due to friction, and the last record pressed from a particular stamper generally will not sound as good as the first one pressed. That means that the white label promo pressings are among the first records pressed from the stampers for a particular release, which generally means they may sound better than their stock counterparts. Second, the white label promo pressings are usually pressed before the commercial copies, in order to get them to the radio stations prior to the commercial release date. Since collectors like things that are different, that alone makes them something to add to their collection. First of all, they are, by definition, different from stock, or commercially released, pressings in that they have a completely different label. There are a few things that make white label promo records something of interest to collectors. ![]() What’s so Special About a White Label Promo? You can browse our white label promo and other promotional records here. red vinyl promotional copy of Brubeck/Desmond by Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond. Featured Items Featured Productsįree U.S. Sometimes, they simply used a stock cover with a large hole punched in a corner, rather than press a special white label promo version of the album. In the 1960s and 1970s, Capitol Records eschewed the white label promo altogether and used stock copies of their albums with the word “Free” or the word “Promo” punched through the album cover. Decca, for example, used pink labels for promotional copies in the 1950s before adopting the white label for such use in the 1960s. Some labels used different colored labels for promotional copies. Not all companies adopted the white label promo as a standard for promotional copies. The vast majority of record companies eventually adopted this informal standard, and the white label promo, as we refer to it today, was born. In order to make it easy to distinguish between stock and promotional copies, most record companies eventually chose to create a special “white” label for promotional records. ![]() Later, many record companies simply added wording such as, “promotional copy – not for sale” to their regular label artwork.Įventually, most record companies chose to create a special version of their record label to be used exclusively for promotional copies. In some cases, a sticker with similar wording was affixed to a stock album cover, indicating that the record was intended for promotional use, while the label might have been identical to that of a stock copy. In some cases, promotional copies of records were simply stock copies that had the words “Demonstration – Not for Sale” applied to the cover or label using a rubber stamp. Record companies devised a number of methods to distinguish commercial, or “stock” copies of records from those intended for promotional use. This made it easier for record company accountants to keep track of which records were being sold for profit and which ones needed to be treated by the company as an advertising expense. Not wanting to confuse the free records provided to radio stations with the copies they were pressing for commercial sale, the record companies would usually mark the covers and the labels of these free records in some way so that it was obvious that these records were not to be sold, but were for radio and/or promotion use only. ![]() This, in turn, could bring them to the attention of the public, who, in turn, would buy them in the stores. Rather than leave the choice of music played on the radio to random choices made by station personnel, the record companies began sending records to radio stations to encourage them to play them. They also realized that consumers would not buy records with which they were completely unfamiliar, and that hearing them played on the radio provided that familiarity which might encourage them to buy the record at a record store. The relationship between radio and the music industry was a tense one, as record company executives felt that consumers would be reluctant to buy records they could hear on the radio for free.īy the 1950s, a few record companies changed their way of thinking, and decided that they might be able to have some degree of control over the songs played on the radio if they gave records to the radio stations free of charge. One often sees the term, white label promo in reference to certain types of records, but what does that mean? In short, it refers to a special pressing of a record that was manufactured specifically for radio station or other promotional (non-retail) use.Įarly in the days of radio, disk jockeys would play whatever they felt like playing, without any input from the record companies. ![]()
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