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Question about promo cd's

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Question about promo cd's

Old 01-29-06, 04:47 AM
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Question about promo cd's

While going through a discount bin somewhere recently, I found a promo version of a disc I already owned. In my collection, I only have one other promo disc of another unrelated album, and it got me thinking:

1. How many copies of a promo do record companies usually make and send out, and
2. What kind of collecting value do these retain? Not necessarily talking monetary value, but more along the lines of simply having a possibly "rare" disc in one's collection.
Old 01-29-06, 10:10 AM
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It depends on the disc and the artist. If it's a promo of an album that has been released to the general public and the only difference is a promo stamp or sticker on the cover (or with no cover and only a sticker on the jewel case in some cases), I think it's generally worth less than the actual album.

Now if it has different artwork, or songs or interviews that aren't available elsewhere then you're probably looking at a rare collectable that's valued by fans of the artist. How much it's worth depends on how rabid the fans are, how unique and hard to find it is and it's history.

Last edited by Tscott; 01-29-06 at 03:59 PM.
Old 01-29-06, 10:21 AM
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A friend of mine sold a promo copy of a CD on ebay. It's a common, in print CD and he got maybe $4 for it. The guy who got it was seriously upset that it was a promo version and demanded his money back. It wasn't a blank cardboard sleeve or anything either. It was basically the regular release with the promo copy info in small letters on the back.

I always make a note when I'm selling a promo (not too often) or a record club edition of a CD.
Old 01-29-06, 11:05 AM
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Speaking of promo discs, I've always wondered if the record companies can bust you for selling them if they really wanted to. Cuz, you know, they usually come with a sticker stating "not for resale yadda yadda."

I've put promo cd's on eBay in the past but it always came with hesitation. I'm guessing a couple here and there isn't a big deal, but moving a good number might catch their attention?
Old 01-29-06, 11:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Jason
A friend of mine sold a promo copy of a CD on ebay. It's a common, in print CD and he got maybe $4 for it. The guy who got it was seriously upset that it was a promo version and demanded his money back. It wasn't a blank cardboard sleeve or anything either. It was basically the regular release with the promo copy info in small letters on the back.

I always make a note when I'm selling a promo (not too often) or a record club edition of a CD.
I've found several promo CDs at the used CD stores and I always get a little extra tingly feeling from buying them. That's certainly on odd reaction IMHO.
Old 01-29-06, 12:17 PM
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The only copy of a promo CD I want is the OST to Nutty Professor 2, which has a great version of "Hey Papi" on it.
Old 01-29-06, 01:18 PM
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Thanks for the replies so far.

The promo cd I just picked up has the same music tracks as the regular issue, but in comparison to the regular cd, it also contains wording on the outer edge of the disc about it being a promo; it has two stickers directly on the front of the jewel case, one on top of the other: the one underneath briefly describes the album, and the larger one on top seems to be the result of a re-issue, as it mentions one of the songs being the follow-up to the previous "hit"; lastly, it has gold lettering stamped on the insert that indicates it to be a promo. Sound like a pretty common type of promo?

Is there a way to find out how many promo copies of an album were put out by the record company?
Old 01-29-06, 01:30 PM
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Nope. It all depends on the release. Some have larger runs than others. Myself and several family members are in radio and can tell you that depending on what it is, it can be worth a great deal or very little. Most singles have promo cd's that are sent out to radio stations. They will have little more than a radio edit or an album version on it. Albums are (as far as I know) mostly sent to reviewers although some radio stations may get copies to give away, etc.

I have a very large number of Madonna promo cd's and can tell you the rarest ones are the ones that have exclusive remixes, rare tracks and/or unique packaging. Because there are such a few # of them printed that actually make it out to the public, they can be worth hundreds of dollars or very little. I, myself, purchased the Like A Prayer single as it was one of the first promo cd's she ever put out, had exclusive remixes on it AND even though it was a US promo, i ended up having to get it from another country. That might have been about 10 years ago and I paid $60 I believe. Lord knows what it's worth now. I've seen the "single edits" version of You Can Dance go for well over $100.

I had a Mariah Carey promo CD single that I had in a bag for YEARS. I never listened to it and wasn't aware of how rare it was. I ended up putting it on ebay and sold it to some guy in Japan for over $150.

It all depends.
Old 01-29-06, 09:23 PM
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I have a handful. I have gotten a few off half.com without them being labeled. That makes me kinda mad since there is never any artwork or booklet to accompany them. The seller should specifically state that it is a promo. If I pick their item which is the same price as a dozen others I want the retail version.
Old 01-29-06, 10:32 PM
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Originally Posted by digitalfreaknyc
Albums are (as far as I know) mostly sent to reviewers although some radio stations may get copies to give away, etc.
College radio stations always get the full albums for things and usually allow us to pick what tracks we want to play on air. A friend that works for a college promotional company usually ships out around 1,000 cds for a band in college radio alone and sometimes a band won't even sell that many copies. Also, there is a little more than 2,500 college radio stations in the US so if it is a major label release (like a Beck or Radiohead), then expect it to hit all of those stations. There is a total of 13,500 radio stations in the US, not all of them getting promos for everything. If you want your album to get reviewed, I would assume you would want to have promotional giveaways, some radio stations would get 10 of an album and if you are a major you can give them to the 1,000 stations that get it. But imagine it like this, though. The Hives record sold 170,000 copies. At 10,000 copies of promotions (to various radio stations, reviews, etc) that means that 1/18 of the product out there wasn't bought out at all. The costs of getting a major to have a firm to promote the record to college alone is usually 1500 dollars per week and they usually have them do it for 10 to 12 weeks. For this lets go with the 10 week frame because College radio tries to refresh as much as it can (which I wish mainstream radio would do, too) so that is 15,000 dollars for just the album to be worked by college radio. Let's say you sell the album and the record company makes 8 on each album (after the stores makes something, this isn't a real figure but just a speculation) and the artist makes 4 dollars per album. So without touring, the Hives would make 680,000 dollars on that album but minus the 15,000 dollars on College radio promotion alone, that would 665,000 dollars but then minus the 65,000 dollar video (probably more), mainstream radio promotion (which is more and its spread is longer, too so lets the number is 50,000 dollars spent on that), we have 550,000 dollars. The cost of manufacturing is probably 3 dollars an album so that 170,000 copies cost around 510,000 dollars but then the promotionals copies cost another 30,000 dollars. So in theory, the Hives maybe made 20,000 dollars.

Is this stuff factual?
Some of it.

Was it needed for this thread?
Not really.
Old 01-30-06, 09:49 AM
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Originally Posted by ChrisKnudsen
Was it needed for this thread?
Not really.
You know what WAS needed?

Paragraphs.
Old 01-30-06, 01:45 PM
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When I was in college the local CD shop often sold promo copies of albums. My favorite was when I bought a promo copy of James Iha's solo album for $6 a week before it was officially released.

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