Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders Booklet
THE WARNER BROS. LOSS LEADERS SERIES (1969-1980) Depending On How You Count Them, 34 Essential Various Artist Collections From Another Time We figured it was about time to pull together all of the incredible Warner Bros. Loss Leaders releases dating back to 1969 (and even a little earlier). For those who lived through the era, Warner Bros. Records was winning the sales of an entire generation by signing and supporting some of music’s most uniquely groundbreaking recording artists… during music’s most uniquely groundbreak- ing time. With an appealingly irreverent style (“targeted youth marketing,” it would be called today), WB was making lifelong fans of the kids who entered into the label’s vast catalog of art- ists via the Loss Leaders series—advertised on inner sleeves & brochures, and offering generous selections priced at $1 per LP, $2 for doubles and $3 for their sole 3-LP release, Looney Tunes And Merrie Melodies. And that was including postage. Yes… those were the days, but back then there were very few ways, outside of cut-out bins or a five-finger discount, to score bulk music as cheaply. Warners unashamedly admitted that their inten- tions were to sell more records, by introducing listeners to music they weren’t hearing on their radios, or finding in many of their (still weakly distributed) record stores. And it seemed to work… because the series continued until 1980, and the program issued approximately 34 titles, by our questionable count (detailed in later posts). But, the oldsters among us all fondly remember the multi-paged, gatefold sleeves and inviting artwork/packaging that beckoned from the inner sleeves of our favorite albums, not to mention the assorted rarities, b-sides and oddities that dotted many of the releases.
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