White Label Promo Records (2016)

As a music journalist in the 90s-2000s, we were often sent promo records - particularly 12" dance singles - with blank white labels where the title was just written on in sharpie.

As the article mentions, while a pristine white label copy might have better initial sound quality, if it was used for its intended purpose (radio, club and record store play), it probably got excessive wear and poor handling from an unknown number of DJs using a shared turntable, instead of careful use by a single owner.

A good resource to determine both the existence and potential value of white label promo versions of regular releases is www.discogs.com.

White label dub cuts was/kind of still are a big thing for vinyl DJs, but these are different than promo versions talked about in this article as they're cut individually using a lathe rather than pressed with a stamp. They may often have a slightly different mix as well.

then you have genres like grime where -- at least in the early days -- diy white labels were the norm. white label, generic sleeve and that's it. if they were stamped it was like you got fancy artwork.