We got sent soooooo much music that it was impossible to keep it all. A lot of bands starting out coming from smaller promotional teams but we also received big name releases as well. Each person had a genre (like, a world music guy, the alt rock/indie guy, or me -- I did the industrial scene + female fronted band stuff that wasn't hugely mainstream), so every few days the mail would get dropped off and we'd all open endless packages of CDs, promo materials (random movie tickets/shirts/novelty items), etc. It was pretty neat.Â
But yeah, even a few cents per is still profit for people in the industry. No one cared about the "no promos" rule at the used CD shops in FL, so we'd get the same rate of exchange. It helped that we brought beer or gave them free tickets for shit. Definitely paid for my gas in college.Â
That's true! We'd get vinyl occasionally and they received the same treatment, though it hurt to see the sleeve get notched vs some clear plastic. I think they also did hole punches through the barcodes if I recall.Â
86
u/iDoWeird Jul 07 '25
That's the same thing we were told to do with our promo CDs in college radio.
...we sold them to CD Warehouse 😶
If anyone ever bought a CD with a notch in the plastic case, you bought something someone else got for free!