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Budget albums (also known as unofficially by some collectors as either drugstore records or junk records) were low-priced vinyl LPs of popular and classical music released during the 1950s to 1970s consisting either of previously released material (usually reissues drawn from the catalogs of major labels featuring older performances by well-known artists) or material recorded especially for the line (often
cover versions In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song released ...
of hit songs by name artists sung or performed on these albums by usually unidentified and unknown musicians). Prices ranged from as low as 59 U.S. cents (minor label releases of the 1950s) to $2.98 (major label repackaging of older material in the 1970s). In the UK
Pickwick Records Pickwick Records was an American record label and British record distributor known for its budget album releases of sound-alike recordings, bargain bin reissues and repackagings under the brands Design, Bravo (later changing its name to Internati ...
' ''Top of the Pops'' record series, which operated between 1968 and 1985, was the most successful budget album range.


Drugstore debut

Discount store Discount stores offer a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs. Types (Uni ...
s (as well as
department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
s) have had records produced for them by various record producing companies since the 1910s. It was fashionable for a chain like
McCrory's McCrory Stores or J.G. McCrory's was a chain of five and dime stores in the United States based in York, Pennsylvania. The stores typically sold shoes, clothing, housewares, fabrics, penny candy, toys, cosmetics, and often included a lunch co ...
or Kress to have their own exclusive label. Most of these records contained songs also available on many other 'exclusive' labels. (For example from the 1920s into the 1930s,
Paramount Records Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson (guitarist), Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Early years Paramoun ...
produced the 'Broadway' label for
Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...
,
Cameo Records Cameo Records was an American record label that flourished in the 1920s. It was owned by the Cameo Record Corporation in New York City. Cameo released a disc by Lucille Hegamin every two months from 1921 to 1926. Cameo Records are also noted f ...
produced the 'Romeo' label for Kress,
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
produced the 'Diva' label for W.T. Grant, and the Plaza Music Company produced the ' Oriole' label for McCrory's, among many others.) Drugstore records were called such as they were often sold in metal racks similar to the racks used for
paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...
books in drugstores or dimestores in the 1960s for prices from half to a quarter of regular
LP album The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of   rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificati ...
s. These records were markedly less expensive than major label recordings. The initial "drugstore records" mostly comprised
popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
played or sung by unknown orchestras or singers, or conversely, once famous singers or orchestras playing music or songs that were relatively unknown (popular singers' early and obscure recordings were often showcased as well). By the LP era, in some cases (notably the least expensive of the records) the record album would have only one
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of a famous song or tune. Many of these albums had attractive
album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...
artwork (often picturing starlets such as
Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, ''Playboy'' Playmate, and sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s. She was known for her numerous publicity stunts and open personal life. He ...
,
Kim Novak Marilyn Pauline "Kim" Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American retired actress and painter. Her contributions to cinema have been honored with two Golden Globe Awards, an Honorary Golden Bear, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and a s ...
,
Irish McCalla Nellie Elizabeth "Irish" McCalla (December 25, 1928 – February 1, 2002) was an American film and television actress and artist best known as the title star of the 1950s television series '' Sheena, Queen of the Jungle''. She co-starred with ac ...
, and the then-unknown
Mary Tyler Moore Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on '' The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), whic ...
). The album were often filled out with music in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
or obscure music never recorded by anyone else. Sometimes the "
orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...
s" comprised very few musicians, were performed by background music companies, or were recorded outside the United States by orchestras credited under different names, such as ''
101 Strings 101 Strings Orchestra was the brand for a highly successful easy listening symphonic music organization, with a discography exceeding 150 albums and a creative lifetime of around 30 years beginning in 1957. 101 Strings had a trademark sound, focus ...
''. Despite major record companies lowering their prices or starting their own budget labels, the budget album companies, such as Coronet (who sold their LPs for 99 cents), remained easily available. Drugstore records originated with
Pickwick International Pickwick Records was an American record label and British record distributor known for its budget album releases of sound-alike recordings, bargain bin reissues and repackagings under the brands Design, Bravo (later changing its name to Internat ...
, founded by
Cy Leslie Seymour Marvin "Cy" Leslie (December 16, 1922 – January 6, 2008) was an American businessman, the founder of Pickwick Records, and the first president and founder of MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group. Pickwick Records aimed to make music m ...
. Leslie's first business was a prerecorded
greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...
service that turned into children's record label Voco Records in 1946. In 1950, Leslie founded
Pickwick Records Pickwick Records was an American record label and British record distributor known for its budget album releases of sound-alike recordings, bargain bin reissues and repackagings under the brands Design, Bravo (later changing its name to Internati ...
and by 1953 Pickwick entered the LP market providing lower priced records.Hoffmann, Frank (editor) and Howard Ferstler (technical editor). ''Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound''. Routledge (2005) Another early producer of drugstore records was
Enoch Light Enoch Henry Light (August 18, 1907 – July 31, 1978) was an American classically trained violinist, danceband leader, and recording engineer. As the leader of various dance bands that recorded as early as March 1927 and continuing through a ...
, who started Waldorf Music Hall Records under the auspices of the F.W. Woolworth
dime store A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, auto parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. It usually sells th ...
chain. Unlike most drugstore record producers, Light was well regarded both as a musician and for his technical recording knowledge; which he would make much use of later in establishing
Command Records Command Records was a record label founded by Enoch Light in 1959 and, in October that year, was acquired by ABC-Paramount Records. Light produced a majority of the releases in the label's catalog. Origin and history After Grand Award Record ...
. Probably the best known and most prolific drugstore label was
Crown Records Crown Records was a budget record label founded as a subsidiary of Modern Records in 1957. It has been the name of several different record labels, listed below. Discography Mono Stereo Other Crown Records * United Kingdom ** Crown Records w ...
, an offshoot of
Modern Records Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Hadda Brooks, Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turn ...
, owned by the Bihari brothers and operated from Los Angeles. From the mid-1950s to the early 80s, Crown turned out hundreds of cheaply produced LPs of country, Hawaiian, Latin, and other musical genres; often performed by pseudonymous studio groups; as well as blues material reissued from the Modern label.


Major labels enter the budget album market

In 1954, Pickwick entered into a licensing arrangement with
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
giving Pickwick the rights to press and distribute Capitol's secondary and noncurrent titles on their label. Pickwick's records were mostly sold in stores other than record shops such as
department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made ...
, dimestores, drugstores, and
supermarkets A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...
. Pickwick later had several subsidiaries such as Bravo, Design, International Award, Hurrah, Grand Prix, and Hallmark Records in the U.K.
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...
introduced RCA Camden Records in 1955, a budget label for re-releasing older recordings by currently popular artists on the label or vintage material from previous decades. Occasionally, original music was produced for release on RCA Camden such as children's music and instrumentals. RCA Camden also released single albums of country music recorded especially for the budget label by many of its newer country acts of the 1960s such as
Connie Smith Connie Smith (born Constance June Meador; August 14, 1941) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her contralto vocals have been described by music writers as significant and influential to the women of country music. A similarity ...
, Liz Anderson, and
Dottie West Dottie West (born Dorothy Marie Marsh; October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country singer and songwriter. She also had several credits as an actress. A distinguished figure in the country genre, West was among several people ...
to perhaps encourage sales of the artists' full-priced product. RCA Camden was particularly successful in repackaging older
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
recordings on the Camden label, as well as previously released and also unreleased material he recorded for his motion pictures, making these albums among the select few budget albums to actually make the national best-selling charts. At one point, the Camden albums were doing so well that two of Presley's major hit singles of the early 1970s - "Burning Love" and "Separate Ways" (and their respective flipsides) made their album debuts not on mainstream RCA releases, but on RCA Camden. Not long before Presley's death, RCA licensed its Camden line to Pickwick, though it eventually revived the label. The major labels' budget album releases were seldom sold at "drug stores", mainly at
record shops A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
and
department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made ...
just like the full-price product although RCA Camden did on occasion market their albums in speciality "drug store" racks. The major label budget albums usually had eight to ten songs on them (usually nine) as opposed to full-price releases which contained ten to twelve songs.
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
re-introduced the
Harmony Records Harmony Records was a record label owned by Columbia Records that debuted in 1925. History Harmony Records began for low-priced 78 rpm records in the 1920s and 1930s. It was revived for budget albums of reissued tracks in 1957. The revived labe ...
line around the same time for budget releases of older product repackaged. Harmony, however, seldom issued material that had not been previously released (Columbia has used the Harmony name from 1926 through 1932 and again in the late 1940s). The budget albums' peak was in the late 1960s and early 1970s when nearly every recording artist of note had one or more such collections on the market. Often these were recordings done for a previous record label before the star's current popularity. Major labels of the day with their own budget lines include: *
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
had a short-lived budget label, Clarion Records * Cameo-Parkway created Wyncote Records *
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
' budget label was
Harmony Records Harmony Records was a record label owned by Columbia Records that debuted in 1925. History Harmony Records began for low-priced 78 rpm records in the 1920s and 1930s. It was revived for budget albums of reissued tracks in 1957. The revived labe ...
*
Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
' budget label was
Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record label, originally founded by the Aeolian Company, a piano and organ manufacturer before being bought out by Brunswick in 1924. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pi ...
*
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
(in the UK) created Music for Pleasure (MFP) *
Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In its early years, Dot sp ...
' budget label was Hamilton Records *
Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous rev ...
' budget label was Sunset Records *
Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...
operated
Wing Records Wing Records was a record label subsidiary of Mercury Records founded in 1955, that found its greatest success during the late 1950s. In 1986, the label was revived by Mercury's parent company, PolyGram and the label had brief success with R&B s ...
*
MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...
released Metro Records and Lion Records *
Modern Records Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Hadda Brooks, Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turn ...
created Crown Records *
Pye Records PYE or Pye Records is an independent British record label. It was first established in 1955 and played a major role in shaping rock 'n' roll and pop music history. The Pye name was dropped in 1980 due to trademark issues, after which it produced ...
(in the UK) launched the budget 'Golden Guinea' Collection, with records priced at one
guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
(equivalent to one pound and one
shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
). *
RCA Victor Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...
released RCA Camden Records *
Starday Records Starday Records was an American record label producing traditional country music during the 1950s and 1960s. History The label began in 1952 in Beaumont, Texas, when local businessmen Jack Starnes (Lefty Frizzell's manager) and Houston record di ...
(arguably a budget label itself) created Nashville Records *
United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1958 ...
produced Unart Records Other budget record labels were Somerset Records that became Alshire Records in 1963, Stereo Fidelity, Audio Spectrum, Peter Rabbit (children's records), Azteca, Score Records (a subsidiary of
Aladdin Records Aladdin Records was a record company and label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by brothers Eddie and Leo Mesner. It was originally called Philo Records before changing its name in 1946. Philo Records Philo's releases included 78 RPM singles of ...
), Custom, Diplomat Records (a product of the
Synthetic Plastics Company Synthetics Plastics Company or SPC of Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex Co ...
who made
Peter Pan Records Peter Pan Records is an American record label specializing in children's music. The label was introduced to the public in March 1948. The label was owned by the Synthetic Plastics Company of Newark, New Jersey until the 1970s. The label became ...
), and Ambassador Records. In
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, the Woolworths jointly owned Embassy Records with Oriole Records, later part of
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. The Music for Pleasure (MFP) label was founded in 1965 as a joint venture between
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
, which provided the source material, and the publisher
Paul Hamlyn Paul Hamlyn, Baron Hamlyn, (born Paul Bertrand Wolfgang Hamburger; 12 February 1926 – 31 August 2001) was a German-born British publisher and philanthropist, who established the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in 1987. Early life He was born Paul Be ...
, which handled distribution in so-called non-traditional outlets, such as W.H. Smith, the booksellers. The MFP catalogue consisted of both original material and reissues of existing EMI recordings. In Venezuela (and arguably other Latin American countries)it was quite common to find these recordings in the Cassette format, which allowed for even cheaper and lower quantity of copies for each album issued. Usually rebranding from other budget label albums, were marketed under the Cim-Bra, Vallison, Co-Co, Allegro, Rotna, CM-Circulo Musical labels, and even other popular labels mostly marketing local artists issued budget albums as well, such as Suramericana del Disco, Yare, Promus, among others.


Notable artists

Notable artists to have begun their careers recording for budget albums include
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...
, Jerry Cole,
Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song " Like ...
and Tina Charles. Perhaps the most notable artists to emerge from a career as a "cover artist" for budget albums include
Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...
who, early in her career as a teenaged vocalist, recorded several covers of
Kitty Wells Ellen Muriel Deason (August 30, 1919 – July 16, 2012), known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a barrier for women in country music with her 1952 hit recording " It Wasn't God ...
hits for budget album release, and
Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
, who recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s for the ''Top of the Pops'' album series. ''See also
List of record labels File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg File:Bingola1011b.jpg Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, ...


References

{{Reflist Music industry Album types