LP "Cutouts"

records being pressed today have no return priviliges. a dealer must take the loss, if he has to take a return from a customer, or buys too many. a distributer or middleman may make exceptions, but the label sales are strictly one way given the small pressing quantities. cut outs were sold to deplete inventory when a title was temporarily or permenantly discontinued. sold at a lower cost, the artist or artists saw no royalties from these sales.

Why did a retailer have to "cutout" the album. Why didn't he just reduce the cost??

I mean, I buy things on sale all the time. I don't remember having the shirt I bought having a piece cut out. If I have to return it, I have a receipt that shows how much I actually paid.

Cutouts were also noted as promotional items as well; I won a bunch of albums in the 80s during phone call in contests (before they wised up and started asking for the nth caller...).

Most of them were cutouts and likely not overstock (in fact some were pretty good sellers)

the retailer didn't...the label did.....since todays pressings are one way, there are no cut outs. back when cut outs were part of the business, even a tiny seller from a major label was 20 to 30 thousand units...today 1500 to 2000 units is a successful lp.

"records being pressed today have no return priviliges" -- Sorry, but once again, this is wrong. I work at a record label and I know. We sell our vinyl with 100% returns. It's true that many distributors now sell vinyl "one-way", but not all of them. And all CDs, of course, are 100% returnable, just as records were in the old days.

As to whether artists see royalties from overstock or cut-out sales, either on LP or CD: this varies by contract.

If I were you, jaybo, I'd make fewer generalizations about the industry.

Patrick