Opinion

White labels, ‘bullet holes’ and cut-out casualties... Mike Mettler tells us why not all promo LPs, cassettes, and CDs are created equal as he delves into the market for collectible advance copies

During the vinyl heyday of the 1970s, white label promotional LPs (aka ‘promos’) were usually what record labels would send to a select cabal of advance listeners – read: self-important rock critics, influential DJs, and/or other allegedly hip musos – in order to get ahead of the release curve. That way, these carefully chosen VIPs could hear what was coming out a few weeks or months later to encourage them to pen knowledgeable reviews or tell their loyal listeners what to expect. Once the digital age took over, labels shifted their promo focus to advance cassettes or advance CDs that had the word ‘Promotional’ prominently displayed across the front of the disc.

Bullet proofing

Oh, how things have changed in the 21st century. For the most part, promos come in the form of digital advances – downloadable or streamable MP3s and WAVs; your choice! These advances are watermarked with coded digital IDs specific to whoever receives them, just in case they dare leak the music to the Internet. Promos always seem to find their way into the marketplace at large, however. With a new generation of physical-media acquirers likely unfamiliar with what kind of content constitutes these promos – many of which are readily available at indie record shops and online sellers – I humbly suggest one and all read on...

Some white-label vinyl promos are actually as good as, and sometimes better, than their wide-release, first-pressing counterparts. The white-label Pitman-pressed promo LP for Al Di Meola’s 1977 fusion benchmark Elegant Gypsy [Columbia PC 34461] is a top-shelf spin – albeit not quite as stellar as the 2024 RTI-pressed and remastered Impex reissue [IMP6062], but still worthy of the official 1977 Columbia LP nonetheless.

Problems arose once we started seeing promos displaying what are known as ‘bullet holes’. Marking releases as promos never really followed one true universal standard – you’d see LP-wide white stickers across a cover’s bottom front, circular stickers in upper corners, rounded rectangular gold stamps on either the front or back, etc. But many labels would punch circular holes through an album cover as a sign what was inside wasn’t meant to be a ‘clean’ copy for retail-sales tallying. Said bulleting would denote an LP’s status as a promo copy, or something to be relegated to the cut-out bin. The cut-out bin was where records expected to sell large quantities but which flopped in the marketplace were sent to die – albeit at much more reasonable ‘nice prices’. Besides bullet holes, you’d also come across lopped-off corners, horizontal notches a few centimeters long, or pencil-tip-thin punch-throughs. Rarely would these cover gashes directly mar an LP itself, but loose particle dust from the compromised outer cardboard sleeve and/or inner paper sleeve would collect on the vinyl, so cleaning sessions were required before ever dropping the needle.

Out to punch

Playback of cassette and CD promos bulleted in the wrong places often proved impossible. If the folded-over paper or saddle-stitched inner booklets got punched, then no worries! Punching holes wherever a UPC code appeared on the plastic case could make playback harrowing, especially once art directors and album designers began moving those codes around to suit their visual needs over the retail-practical requirements. The percentage of bullet-hole damage began increasing in the ’90s, as I would sometimes find tape shells cracked into pieces or the tape itself completely frayed apart – or both. A hole punched into an actual disc became a circular crater no CD player’s laser could ever hope to read.

That said, promos can be collectible, relatively affordable good finds, as long as you know what to avoid so you can enjoy them as they’re meant to be played. Just don’t get sucked into the hole!