Beware of promo CDs on eBay

I just got Nick Cave's No More Shall We Part on eBay from Marie's One Cent CDs.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2561299406&category=1572&rd=1

Stamped on the front insert on the front page in gold ink is: "For Promotional Use Only. Sale or other transfer is prohibited. Must be returned on demand of recording company."

Now this bothers me, because for one thing is it legal to sell these? It does state in the auction that these are often promos but the picture shown of the front insert is clearly not the one I received because there is no gold printing on it. Also the CD is described as mint but I wouldn't call it mint having been defaced this way. I see their feedback is over 100,000 so I guess there's no sense in even trying to return it.

I think I'll stick with buying from individuals on there from now on.

 

Technically it is illegal to sell these promo CDs, but if you bought it for the music and paid less than if you were to buy this new, then it probably shouldn't matter (to you at least).

If you bought it so you could collect it and sell it at a later date it may prove problematic.

I know that the stores near me that buy used CDs, will not purchase promo CDs in any way shape or form.

 

I don't think stores sign contracts with distributors, at least I don't remember the topic ever coming up at the bookstore I worked at. We would grab the catalogs and order the titles we thought we could sell, return the ones we couldn't. When the orders came in there may be a new catalog and promos. The owner where I worked had no qualms about selling a promo (discounted) if the customer wanted it and we had no others. He was only looking for profit to keep the store going and the % mark up on CDs was really bad.

Why would it be illegal - because they say so? Technically, it may or may not be illegal, but what distributor is going to take it to court?
And I certainly don't remember anyone recalling their promos.

(I'm talking about promos not pre-release review copies)

Just the promo stamp itself and the "do not sell" warnings along with a punched barcode and no shrink wrap is enough to keep it from being mixed in with the others for full price.

 

The promo police would have had mass arrests at one well-known local used CD store I used to visit. There were many times I'd gone in, picked up a BRAND NEW CD that had just been released, and took it up to the counter. Back there, they'd have maybe half a dozen promo copies they were selling, if not more...for maybe $8 or $9 vs. $15 or $16 for a new one. When money was tight, I'd take the promo. Problem is, the artist doesn't make a penny off of a promo.

Promo vinyl is easy to find, and I don't think any local store would turn it down. They can be valuable collectibles, in fact. But CDs are a grey area, especially if they are recent releases.

 

When I was reviewing CDs many years ago, these were one and the same...the label basically retains the rights to the discs. An "as-released" promo would just have the case, finished booklet, etc. where the pre-release could be in a white sleeve, pressed on a generic disc (or even a CD-R, like Gato Barbieri's "Che Corazon" was). Either way, selling or otherwise "reassigning" the disc was forbidden. Not that it ever stopped ME from selling a bunch of them.

I only know of one instance where someone got in trouble for it...and it was more of an attorney's "cease and desist" to end an eBay listing for their artist's promo.

 

While this issue has not been decided by a court as far as I know, I believe it is technically legal to sell promos. The company can't dictate what can be done with a promo once they give it away.

 

I've heard of people's items getting yanked off ebay because they were promos. Usually, it takes a complaint from someone to make this happen, but certain artists (WEA artists in particular) have people scanning ebay 24/7 to find that objectionable item and have it yanked. No biggie unless they do it to you a few times, then you might get suspended.

 

I know some independents are real touchy about review copies ending up on ebay and police it to keep them off until the release date. The fear I guess is that the tracks will end up as MP3s. But promos are promos, given free to promote interest in an artist's work. Taken by someone who doesn't want to risk much cash on something they've never heard. Handing them out and then trying to stop the dissemination seems contrary.

I jumped at a NM vinyl "Everbody knows this is Nowhere" promo recently. Priced the same as any other used vinyl - sounds great. But some Pentangle vinyl promos I've bought are pressed on the thinest stuff I've ever seen.
And "Rites of Passage" by the Indigo Girls only exists on vinyl as a promo.

 

Geez, I've got many dozens of these promo discs - no big deal. Some labels use a sticker, some that gold stamping (either on the disc itself, the booklet, or both), others notch the cases. I've never heard of a record company ever "demanding the return" of a promo disc.

 

I think the 'Not To Be Sold' warnings are aimed at the record stores, rather than individual music fans who might find them for sale in second-hand shops, record collector's fairs and so on - more than anything to ensure that members of the public buy the Real Thing from the record racks. It's only those copies that get bar-code swiped and so the sales can be monitored, markets assessed and all that music biz stuff; and as someone points out it makes sure the artist gets his share of the profit.
But I'm sure promos have been valued as quirky, different-to-the-norm artefacts by fans and collectors ever since they first appeared. Especially if they have some rare and otherwise unreleased material on them...

 

Buying from individuals is not a guarantee against getting promos.

 

Keep in mind that Marie's One Cent CDs almost 99.9% of the time sells these promos. They are cheap but I tend to stay away from these guys.

 

Hey, they sell promos at Amoeba.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about record companies not making money off of people buying promo's. Promotional costs are figured into the wholesale and retail prices. To me, promotion means just that. Is the record label actively promoting this title any more? It was released in April of 2001. Probably not. I don't mind purchasing promo's if it helps the music store stay in business.

Aaron

 

I had a used record store owner tell me that these were frequently used as "payola" to DJs and reviewers. The labels would give them to radio stations and DJs for contest "giveaways" (nudge,nudge,wink,wink), but it was well known in the industry they were frequently sold for profit. He said they used to come in with crates full of them for him to purchase.

 

I have bought from Marie's numerous times at great savings. They ship fast and I have never had a problem with them.

Their ad clearly states:
ABOUT OUR CDs: Unless stated otherwise in the item description above, your CD will come to you with all original artwork and covers. We buy our CDs from the finest dealers and wholesalers in Southern California. We search CD stores and distributors for top-quality overstock and used titles to offer here on eBay. Our CDs are in New, or like-new condition. Our CDs are generally marked in some way by our suppliers to prevent their resale at full price. Many of our CDs are marked with a holepunch through the barcode, a slit through the jewelcase cover or a pen mark or other small marking or sticker on the package itself. These marks do not affect play in any way.

 

Well in the bigger cities especially LA any place that sells used CDs generally sells promos. Yes it is against the "official" agreement record companies have, and yes the artist and label get no money-so you make your own personal choice if there is a moral question for you. Keep in mind, however, anytime you buy any used CD, promo or not, ther is no money for the artist/label. And sure they're used as a defacto form of graft, although probably less so than in the past. I once managed a store where a rep came in and told me that a certain artist needed a Soundscan jump the following week and gave me "cleans" (regular CDs not promo copies) to sell dirt cheap (at 100% profit) so they'd boost the numbers. Recently the industry has tried to implement traceable CD promos and SONY even played with sending a promo that was sealed inside a CD player-but the goal here was not so they wouldn't be sold to a Used CD store, but so that no one was making digital copies and posting the files on the internet. me, if I want something newly issued, I can almost always score a promo at a used CD store for $7-9 because LA is that kind of town.

 

Sorry to inform you, the cost of promos comes out of artists’ royalties.

 

I buy lots of promos, and am perfectly happy with them. The music is the same and the packaging is the same, except for a notch cut in the case, a hole punched through the UPC code, or a gold stamp somewhere on the cover. If you're a collector that wants a perfect copy of a CD, I can see staying away from promos. Me, I'd rather have the music, and I buy enough music that I can't afford to pay full retail for all my discs, especially with the RIAA-artificially high prices you'd have to pay these days (actually since the advent of CDs generally). Frankly, I don't understand Scotian's objections to these, but hey, the fewer people that buy promos, the more there are for me!

 

During my record store clerk days I'd get promo cd's all the time. My boss would give them to me, and label reps would bring them in as well.

That stamp is there so the record store doesn't sell it as a new cd. We bought and sold hundreds of promo cd's (as used, of course).

 

When making the Anthology videos, Apple/EMI advertised for private individuals to send any rare video footage in to them for possible inclusion. Once they got it, promo films were not returned to the 'owners' as it was maintained they were 'still the proerty of Apple/EMI' - there was the case of a once-famous UK film critic who lost a few items like this (IIRC, one was a copy of the 'Come Together' promo film he had kept from 1969). I believe helpful TV stations were hit by this also. The same happened when Wingspan was made.

Moral of the story: never volunteer to help Apple/EMI out with rare items

 

I would guess that a "Promotional Use Only - Not For Sale" gold DCC would be worth more than a regular gold DCC?

Jim W.

 

I've never considered a promo to be worth more even if it is a "rarer" variation. But collectors might think otherwise...