LP "Cutouts"

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

patrick..what label do you work for? honestly everything from the majors is one way.

one more thing....cut outs were never sold title specific(which makes it impossible to track royalties) ....cut outs were sold in bulk, mixed in 100 count cartons, etc.....no item numbers except for one which was the mix itself. most, if not all of the artist agreements to this day are written with provisions for overstock and cut outs(even though vinyl royalties won't buy a ham sandwich)....heck, i've been doing this since 1969, and agreements with artists, and agreements for intellectual properties have been my main focus for at least 15 years. if you're taking returns on vinyl in this day and age, thats scarey.