White Label Promos: What Up?

[@Waachiye]

For a cat like myself who merely seeks out / buys albums because I love the music they contain, you Sir, have the most informative & in depth music related channel here on KZbin. IMHO, of course. 😉

[@Universityofvinyl]

Wow, high praise! Thanks much

[@chopayrussell9660]

I have three: Rainbow..." Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" (with hype sticker) Little Feat..."Little Feat" Jeff Beck..." Blow by Blow" a quadraphonic pressing on Epic gold label stamped " Demonstration Not For Sale" And probably one or two more

[@continentalgin]

Another thing you'll occasionally notice, when they have the white track listing strip on the jacket, is ink pen marks a DJ has written to indicate a track or two that's on playlist rotation or a favorite track. As a collector, I hate to see any ink marks of any kind anywhere on a record, but in used records crate digging, I come across ink marks a lot. Another common ink mark problem is that back in the sixties, teens used to loan records to friends and they would write their names on the jacket or label in pen or permanent marker, so the friend would remember to give the record back to the right person. Even in the early seventies, kids were still writing their names on their albums. I have a rare Hot Rocks first pressing that unfortunately has some guy's name written on the label with a sharpie.

[@fmpphoto]

Catching up on all your videos absolute epic work love the back stories of the artist and especially the master engineers. Awesome channel!

[@Universityofvinyl]

Thanks!!

[@DocJJohnson]

Great video

[@darbacon1]

We can’t forget about Michael Fremer.

[@ProgJunkie]

Is it true that corner cut covers also were promos even not being on white label, especially with gold promo stamps. I have seen both, and figured corner cut, saw cut, hole punch were all promo versions.

[@Universityofvinyl]

Yes, this is my understanding also 👍🏻

[@dmichaelelkins1]

I was a radio disc jockey back in the late seventies early 80s during college and law school and since the radio station received many promo copies of records that were not part of our format, a good number of them ended up in my own personal collection, where they remain today. Thanks label promo men! I was interested mostly in albums but it was common for there to be 45s that would have the stereo version of the song on one side and the mono version on the flip side. I don’t recall us actually playing promo copies on the air; the copies we played seemed to have the same labels as the copies you would see in the retail market. The singles didn’t always last very long since they got cue burn at the beginning of the song from multiple disc jockeys cueing up the song by finding where the song began and then backing it up about a quarter turn. You backed it up to allow the platter to get up to speed by the time that the stylus hit the portion of the groove where the song began. Consider that a song in heavy rotation would probably come back up in the rotation about every two hours, that record might be cued up some 12 times a day, with most of us engaging in what later became know as “scratching” or running the stylus back and forth several times to get the record positioned in the proper location and you can see how the records quickly got cue burn. Years later I still have bad dreams of being on the radio and not having the next record cued up when the previous one was finished playing, resulting in the dreaded dead air.

[@Universityofvinyl]

Really interesting, thanks!

[@BubbaBigDude]

I have one white label promo somewhere in my collection; I think it's an earlier Springsteen album, either Born To Run or Darkness On The Edge Of Town (I forget).

[@badvinyl4531]

Hey Tim great video! Informative as always. I was tuned into WL promos when I was a kid. I was actually given a bunch of 45 white labels from a couple of local radio stations. And also was sold a few for around a dollar if my memory is correct. On holiday as a kid, I remember specifically looking for the promo 45s in the large city in our province. Always found them fun and interesting to collect. Great fun! Thanks for another enjoyable video. Brad.

[@Rivcuban]

Really enjoyed this episode.

[@Universityofvinyl]

Thanks much

[@sonhouse9636]

Very interesting thanks !

[@sammencia7945]

WLP were pressed after the test pressing was approved by mgmt. Usually the very first stampers, or sometimes not but very early. These were released from 1959 through 1981 on actual white labels. More in 1970s, but some from 60s and early 80s. AOR djs, reviewers, radio stations, college radio, public radio, and newspapers and alternative weekly papers. Quantity was 750 to 1000. One stamper run then the public for sale run began. Swap out the labels, regular artwork, proper inner sleeve. I have over 100. Usually they do sound better, often in the upper mids with more brightness and a more solid bass.

[@AI_Surfer]

I've been fortunate enough to have been collecting LPs in the Los Angeles area for many years, and during that time much of my focus was on White Label Promos. The WLPs were/are fun to collect because they're unique to the standard pressings, and they usually sounded very good. I also like the non White Label Promo pressings, which have the standard retail label, but have the 'Promotion Not For Sale' blurb printed on the label. Unfortunately the scarcity of them has made the prices go up, and hard to come by, but they're still some to be had in the wild if luck is on your side. I had a 'Tupelo Honey' WLP like the one you showed in your video, but I passed it along to a friend who was a much bigger fan of Van Morrison than myself. I just found your YT channel and I am really enjoying your videos. Keep up the great work!

[@Universityofvinyl]

Thanks much!

[@Stuck_in_the_70s]

I have a handful of white label promos and yes as a rule they do sound great. I don’t think any of mine are particularly valuable, sadly. However I will say that a guy Chris who I buy a lot of records from told me recently he had sold a Beatles promo for a whopping £5200!! The buyer flew into the UK from South America just to collect it as they didn’t want to risk sending it!

[@victorbloom8286]

Your talking about Payola !

[@wildstar41]

I recently got a Stan Getz white label for his 1978 album Another World. It sounds amazing. 2LPs one side is less perfect. Maybe that was played on the radio. I have several gold stamped promos. They always sound great. I wonder if there’s a way to know how many white labels or gold stamp promos exist for an album.

[@brianmedeiros6845]

I’ve seen or picked up some promo records not for resale thinking maybe just a low quality product? Thinking there free take a copy nothing special. But now I’m thinking differently. I recently picked up a Steely Dan Katy Lied Promo already have a copy but for 15.00 couldn’t resist. Do you buy multiple copies? Not sure why I do LOL Thank You into the Wild I Go!

[@brianmedeiros6845]

How about if its not a white label? Will these promo records have the mastering engineer in the dead wax?

[@sulleneldritch7680]

I only own a few WLP records but remain skeptical about any sonic improvements due to that particular distinction. For _King Crimson - Islands_ I compared my WLP with my bog standard original. Not surprisingly, they both sound the same and are both mastered by George Piros. They also both have a mechanical hum and both are pressed off center. The irony is the WLP is very noisy while the standard pressing is the most quiet US copy of _Islands_ I have heard. So I paid more for just the label mostly, but that's record collecting for you. I think Atlantic stopped the white label thing before 1973 and went sticker only afterwards. What I don't really understand is why those Atlantic monaural WLPs are so valuable. I'm pretty sure nearly every one of them are fold-downs, not dedicated mono mixes. Yet they are going for crazy money. My WLP for _King Crimson - Lizard_ is another noisy record that otherwise sounds amazing, because it was mastered by George Piros. I'm pretty certain the standard first issue will sound the same but cost less. My WLP for _UK - Danger Money_ sounds incredible...but I think this has more to do with the fact that it was mastered by George Marino at Sterling. Relatively inexpensive though, unless you're set on a dead mint Japanese pressing. Somebody posted a video awhile back about how the promo pressing of _Pink Floyd - The Wall_ is the best sounding of the bunch, and predictably the prices shot up. Turns out it's really just part of the first issue TML stampers with stickers and stamps in various places. Lots of folk-lore around these old curios, that's for sure....

[@Flatearther620]

I have a copy of steely Dan Aja with plain white label, bought in thrift store years ago. Is it worth anything?

[@Universityofvinyl]

Hell yes!

[@Flatearther620]

@@Universityofvinyl oh wow, how can I get in valued? I live in the UK. Love your channel and have bought some of your recommended albums all sounded as good as you described. I have a classic Linn Naim system, very old school but hey I’m old too.

[@Universityofvinyl]

@@Flatearther620 you could check eBay for past historical sales information

[@festersuncle6298]

White labels are a sticker, that's all. The albums were produced,engineered, mastered, cut, etc. Take Sire as an example. The "promo" releases were not white and were released with a shrink sticker only. I do think WLP are definitely cool and desirable. Hot stampers are a gimmick.....$. You and I can't hear the difference between the 5th record or the 500th record pressed.