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Business News Labels & Publishers
White label auction raises £25,000 for BRIT Trust
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 7 October 2019
That pre-National Album Day auction of white label vinyl raised more than £25,000 for the BRIT Trust this weekend, with test pressings of records by the Arctic Monkeys and The Beatles generating the most cash.
The term ‘white label’, of course, is traditionally used to describe the small number of vinyl records often pressed prior to release, either for testing purposes or to provide to DJs for early promo. As the artwork that will accompany said release isn’t usually ready at this point, the vinyl has a simple white label stuck in the middle of it, hence the term.
It was Universal’s Catalogue A&R Director Johnny Chandler who had the idea of exploiting the good old vinyl revival to raise money for the BRITs charity by auctioning off an assortment of white label records donated by artists and record companies. The test pressing of Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ secured the highest bid of £1300, while a white label version of the recent 50th anniversary reissue of The Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ brought in £850.
Says Chandler: “This is such a brilliant result made possible by the generosity of all the labels who donated test pressings and the artists and managers who gave their blessings. I’d like to thank them all along with the BPI, Omega Auctions and the fans and collectors who went online to bid. The money raised will be put to great use by The BRIT Trust, and hopefully we have planted the seed for something that’s a little bit different that can become an anticipated annual event”.
National Album Day, in case you’d forgotten or never knew or didn’t previously care, is this coming Saturday.
