A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as
music radio
Music radio is a radio format in which music is the main broadcast content. After television replaced old time radio's dramatic content, music formats became dominant in many countries. Radio drama and comedy continue, often on public radio.
Mu ...
and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
stations, and to tastemakers, such as DJs,
music journalists
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
, and
critics
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governme ...
, in advance of the release of commercial editions, in the hope that airplay, reviews, and other forms of exposure will result and stimulate the public's interest in the commercial release.
Promos are often distributed in plain packaging, without the text or artwork that appears on the commercial version. Typically a promo is marked with some variation of the following text: "Licensed for promotional use only. Sale is prohibited." It may also state that the promo is still the property of the distributor and is to be "returned upon demand." However, it is not illegal to sell promotional recordings, and recalls of promos are extremely rare and unenforced. A promotional release may be standalone or as part of a
press kit
A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials that provide information about a person, company, organization or cause and which is distributed to members of the media for pr ...
, which may include items such as promotional photos,
music videos
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
, press releases, or biographies of the artists, with electronic press kits being common.
Because promos are produced in smaller quantity than releases made available to the general public, they are sometimes considered valuable collectors' items. They are never intended for sale in record stores.
Promotional single
A promotional single (''digital single'' in South Korea) is a single that is made available to
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
s,
nightclub
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
s, music publications, and other media outlets by a
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
to promote a commercial
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
or
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
. A song may be released as a promotional single even if no commercial version of the single is available to buy. An example is "
Theme to St. Trinian's" by
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...
, released as a promotional single for the movie ''
St. Trinian’s''. The song was later removed as a single to avoid confusion with Girls Aloud’s actual single "
Call The Shots
"Call the Shots" is a song by British-Irish girl group Girls Aloud from their fourth studio album, '' Tangled Up'' (2007). The song was written by Miranda Cooper, with inspiration from an article about the advance of women in business, and Bri ...
".
The promo single is usually recognized by its limited liner notes and cover artwork as well as its unique catalog number (or the occasional lack thereof). Quite often,
vinyl record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...
s will be issued in a generic cardboard jacket or white paper sleeve while
CDs
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
will be issued in a slimline
jewel case
Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage.
Jewel case
A ...
or cardboard sleeve.
There may also be promotion-specific terms stamped on the disc or its cover, most notably "For Promotional Use Only" and "Not For Resale".
The ''advance promo single'' is furnished to DJs sometimes weeks or months in advance of a domestic release to give record labels an opportunity to build interest in the single and gauge response to the single. Unlike a finished promo single, these are commonly test pressings or
white label
A white label record is a vinyl record with white labels attached. There are several variations each with a different purpose. Variations include test pressings, white label promos, and plain white labels.
Test pressings
Test pressings, usua ...
s and thus are manufactured in limited runs. Traditionally, these promotional copies were supplied to DJs through
music pools. Despite the good intention, there has been some dispute within the industry whether an advanced promotion is a good thing or not. Building interest is naturally considered a good thing, but it may have the opposite effect when interested persons are unable to find a new song in the record stores for quite some time.
Acetates and test pressings
On rare occasions a special type of demonstration record known as an
acetate disc
An acetate disc (also known as a ''lacquer'', ''test acetate'', ''dubplate'', or ''transcription disc'') is a type of phonograph record generally used from the 1930s to the late 1950s for recording and broadcast purposes and still in limited use t ...
has been distributed to radio stations as a promo. Instead of being mass-produced these records are cut one at a time in the recording studio from a master tape source. They were generally made in very low quantity with hand-written labels. The soft acetate surface of these discs can be played no more than about 10 times before they start to wear out.
Another type of rare item which has occasionally been used as a promo is a "test pressing" or
white label
A white label record is a vinyl record with white labels attached. There are several variations each with a different purpose. Variations include test pressings, white label promos, and plain white labels.
Test pressings
Test pressings, usua ...
. These are the first disc copies pressed at the factory. They are used to check manufacturing quality before mass production begins.
Countdown to album release programs
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
and other markets distribute songs for a price on a pre-set schedule; such as one a week in a 'Countdown' to the parent album's release. These pre-sales of album tracks are often called 'promotional singles' by many.
Distribution
Radio outlets
Promotional recordings are distributed to commercial
AM and
FM radio stations for airplay. These singles typically feature just the
radio edit
In music, a radio edit or radio mix is a modification, typically truncated or censored, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form. Radio edits may als ...
of the song, but may also include alternate remix edits, the original album version, or even call-out hooks
Nightclub outlets
When it comes to
electronic dance music, 12-inch records and CDs still have been replaced by digital music files (such as
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
or
MP4) as the most popular media by which promotional recordings may be distributed to DJs in the nightclub industry. These singles typically feature one or more extended remixes (sometimes dubbed a "club mix") of the title track that are not generally available to the public as well as the original extended version, which in many cases is itself club-friendly. In some cases, the release may have anonymous track labeling or lack labels altogether. Previously, the corresponding CD might also have carried radio edits and other alternate cuts that did not make it onto the 12-inch record itself, in which case the CD is referred to as a
maxi-single
A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song.
The first maxi singles
Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...
CD. It is not unusual for a promo single to have no commercially available counterpart particularly in those genres that are predominantly oriented to nightclub applications.
Promotional compilations
Many companies currently offer promotional compilations to DJs, radio use and nightclubs alike. The format is growing on the CD format, but some companies still offer promotional compilations in vinyl also. Most of the compilations are genre-specific (like most of CD Pools' compilations) but there are also compilations that offer a combination of different genres (like compilations from DMC and Music Factory). Such compilations are normally released monthly. In addition to companies that work internationally, there are also many companies that offer national promotions material in the form of compilations.
Versions in the compilation are usually either radio edits or extended / 12" remixes of the song, depending a bit on the targeted audience. Club scene music is usually in the longer and easier to play format of extended remix, whereas more street targeted music is usually released as radio edits. It normally takes a couple of weeks after the release of the original promo single to be available on promotional compilations. This has the added benefit of having the songs when they're already had some airtime and are thus not the bleeding edge no-one has heard from, but still have usually not been released to the mass markets yet.
Some of the internationally established companies are
CD Pool and
DMC. Many fledgling companies are also available offering both well-known and lesser known releases.
Online promotional distribution
Since the advent of broad-bandwidth Internet access and professional tools such as iPool or Haulix, the online promotional distribution of music has been established. Record companies make their music available as audio files and use the Internet as a distribution channel. In contrast to the conventional way of distributing promotional recordings, this kind of promotional distribution is faster and cheaper.
See also
*
Press kit
A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials that provide information about a person, company, organization or cause and which is distributed to members of the media for pr ...
References
{{Music industry
Music industry
Single types
Promotion and marketing communications