How do you go about getting free promo copies of CDs from labels?

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I know record labels are more than willing to send out free promo copies of albums, but how do you go about getting them? Also, do they only send them if you have some kind of site or magazine, or will they do it for anyone?

I have a site that I write for, but I don't actually own/did not create the site, so I don't know if that would work.

― Chris Malley, Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

tell them that you need multiple copies of the newest stock because you have a meth problem and there's a really good used cd shop by you that buys shit for good money

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 18 November 2004 01:01 (twenty-one years ago)

do they only send them if you have some kind of site or magazine, or will they do it for anyone?

Oh yah, anyone. Most of them have a place on their Web sites where you can go and just request whatever you want and they'll send it to you.

Also, banks will give you money if you just go in and ask. Even if you don't have an account!

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 18 November 2004 01:52 (twenty-one years ago)

And the labels complain about losing money from people file sharing? Pffft!!!

― Pangolino (ricki spaghetti), Thursday, 18 November 2004 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't get my promo cds free, but i get them hell of cheap! second hand stores rock my world!

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Thursday, 18 November 2004 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

In the early 1990's, purely as a joke, I wrote letters (pre-internet) to over 50 labels, stating that I wrote for Spin magazine and "several Eastern European rock & roll publications". (I made it all up.) Much to my surprise, about 45 of those labels sent me free product. EMI was the dumbest, mailing me their crap new releases like clockwork for the next SIX FUCKING YEARS. I sold every single one, except for a Denim CD I held onto.

I'd suggest that you send letters (not emails) to the appropriate person at the labels of your choice; the more ludicrous your story, the more likely these idiots will be willing to add you to their promo lists. Be warned, though, free music industry product may sound like a cool idea, but wait until you're getting 30+ discs a week in the mail - and 29 of them are pure shit you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. It can get depressing, that.

― dsd, Thursday, 18 November 2004 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, you never realize how much pure shit gets released and sinks without a trace until you're on the receiving end of the promo hose. Especially if you're writing for a smaller publication, because the label marketing depts. dump all the crap they're contractually obligated to distribute in places that they couldn't care less about. That way when the band bitches that they got no label support, the PR guys can say, "We sent out 300 promo discs and marketing kits!"

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 18 November 2004 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

"You guys are HUGE in Eastern Europe!"

― Pangolino (ricki spaghetti), Thursday, 18 November 2004 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

In the early 1990's, purely as a joke, I wrote letters (pre-internet) to over 50 labels,...

Does ring a bell. I must've sent out about 200 letters in '90-'91 -- on behalf of a then existing little zine, printed rather irregularly on really crap paper & in an "unheard-of" (for many) corner of the world, in an "unheard-of" (ditto) language. And I think that about two or three dozens of the addressees cared to reply. (Heh, Warner and, if I remember correctly, EMI just sent their catalogues - and nothing further came of that).
But getting any response at all was, at that particular time & this particular place, totally great. Those who took notice, whether only once or repeatedly, ranged from 4AD to Derek Bailey, from ECM to Flying Nun, ROIR to Cuneiform, Extreme to CRI and Canadian Music Centre (iirc).
Had our zine lasted longer, (some of) the contacts might have coninued...

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 18 November 2004 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

i got caught shoplifting cds at borders on sunday.

― reo, Thursday, 18 November 2004 06:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Start a "college" radio station. Just prepare to deal with a ton of unsufferable reps.

― Steev (Steev), Thursday, 18 November 2004 07:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember that Lester Bangs story, where a friend remarked on the unopened (i.e. sealed) albums he was taking to the reseller shop. "Trust me, you don't want to play them"...

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 18 November 2004 09:30 (twenty-one years ago)

volunteer at radio stations,record companies and steal.if you ask they might say no.
IN aUSTRALIA I paid $70 aus,40 euro,30 pounds,$50 usa to register business name as radio station . - i have no equipment and get 20 cds per week and 20 cd singles.
i get free tshirts too and promo stiuff like stickers,i got 32 lifesize cut outs of including kylie fever - i sold cutout of maruaiha catrey on ebay for $200 aussie dollars.
i make $100 aus weekly selling stuff on ebay - i only keepo 10% or less.
don't sell to second hand shops,sell privately.

― freeboy, Monday, 22 November 2004 07:57 (twenty-one years ago)

tell them that you need multiple copies of the newest stock because you have a meth problem and there's a really good used cd shop by you that buys shit for good money
don't be honest in the music industry.

― freeboy, Monday, 22 November 2004 08:05 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

As I mumbled on Twitter earlier, has there ever been a formally released track by someone using/sampling those 'This is a promotional copy' bits from press release CDRs?

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 4 October 2009 19:23 (sixteen years ago)

thirteen years pass...

I just found a promo CD for Bob Mould's Workbook, and it's pretty great - they designed it to look like an actual 'workbook.'

The late '80s/early '90s seems to be a Golden Age for promos, where you'd get these great designs that were sometimes better than the actual album art. (I think one Suzanne Vega promo was the first to get a hologram, which inspired Prince to do one for the regular run of Diamonds and Pearls after Jeff Gold brought it to him, and Elvis Costello's Blood and Chocolate hilariously had a red and gold chocolate bar wrapper on one promo cassette.)

― birdistheword, Thursday, 12 January 2023 20:08 (three years ago)

IIRC Warner/Reprise sent out Duncan Hines cake mixes with Mudhoney's Piece of Cake

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 12 January 2023 21:38 (three years ago)

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