Disco Promos Unreleased...Why?

[Forrrce]

Considering the expense of time, money and effort, why did so many disco remixes never get past the promo stage? There could be any number of reasons - lack of interest from the labels, or poor feedback from the DJs - but companies like Warner and Columbia seem to have a higher count of promo-only 12" product than the other majors who were also (seemingly) behind disco.

DJ-only 12" editions of straight LP or 45 cuts would be less contentious - but why tempt the buying public with alternate versions they wouldn't be able to purchase eventually, if they wanted to.

The Willie Bobos, Ashford & Simpsons, Sharon Ridleys, Brainstorms, etc...would they be regarded as such classics now if they were commercially released (therefore easily obtainable) as 12"s in their respective times?

Wonder if anybody here knows why specific titles weren't followed up..?

[BrunoRepublic]

Sometimes it's all about creating a demand, and ensuring DJ popularity. (steering things a bit off-course...) I think the late 80s/early 90s was the peak of promo-only mixes. I vividly recall that when Blackbox was ruling the floors, all the clubs played the same extended mixes that AFAIK, were never commercially released anywhere. Dozens of 12s, remix albums, import singles, etc., -- none of them had the club mixes which were for the most part, just like the LP cuts but longer. Result? Any DJ who had these records was instantly popular, because they could play the songs that everyone wanted to hear but couldn't own.

Mercifully, this practice seems to have been greatly diminished. P2P file-sharing has largely eliminated the power that this exclusivity created.

[Forrrce]

Certainly, from the latter '80s onwards, it seemed to be more about the exclusivity of promo mixes and the kudos these can bring. Double, triple packs and the like only showcased how comparitively easy and cheap it is to remix today's dance music - and in many cases these multi-mix sets were simply unnecessary.

As remixes weren't inevitable (as they are today), one would expect a few to slip through the disco net - but when, for instance, 'Let's Groove' by Earth, Wind and Fire is an international hit and the remix is canned, why bother going to the trouble of commissioning it initially. Every case will be different, I'm sure, but the subject had me wondering.

[QUINNY]

Forrrce: The reasons why they might have been canned were surely either, (a) the artists objected to them for some reason, or (b) no commercial advantage could be made (maybe 'cos they were thought to be done a little late in the marketing day).
As for the ones that were only given to DJs to play and not available commercially.......who can fathom the inner workings of record companies? I guess the record companies wanted to keep the club DJs sweet and yes, maybe those same DJs weren't positive enough with their feedback. A DJ pal of mine used to get loads of stuff from the Warners disco promotion guy (Fred Dove), including many US titles that were only sent to a very select few. Quite a number never got a UK release at all and it has to be said that only a few, were really worth having. There were also UK pressed white labels that were truly pre-release, either given out to get some action started prior to UK release, or quite often to test the waters. Some of these were never released, certainly not in 12" form. In addition there were Fred's own special LPs which were either simple compilations or latterly were specially sequenced segued hot tracks that he wanted to push (can't remember any properly mixed ones, but could be wrong).

[Forrrce]

Indeed, Q - who on earth understand record companies...

Yes, Fred Dove seemed to be the man over here. I don't have (or see) many of his special promos, but he left boxes of old stuff where I worked about 9 years ago (on my day off :x ) and I came in the next day to find loads of WEA/Atlantic promo 12"s stacked up. My colleague (a couple of years younger than Q) had a couple of bits out of there, but there wasn't any of the really early stuff. Pity - it would have been nice to meet the guy I'd heard so much about for years.