MGM issued a variety of promotional, custom, and deejay albums. The MGM Merchandising Corporation and the MGM Premium label were the counterparts of the "Special Products" or "Special Markets" divisions at other record labels. The MGM Merchandising Corporation issued "promotional custom releases," which were special albums made to be given away, and the MGM Premium label issued the regular custom albums for clients such as Kleenex or AC Spark Plugs, who used them in their own promotional ventures.

The MGM Promotional Series was a series designed for radio use. Not all of the albums in this series were released as regular albums, as some were "public service" material like anti-drug spots. In addition, MGM issued a series of sampler albums to encourage deejays to play cuts from then-current albums.

In addition to these special series, MGM issued a vast majority of its albums, at least in the 1960s and 1970s, as disc jockey promos. These usually had the same numbers as the regular albums, and the same covers, but had a large orange "DJ" sticker on the front, and a special label. Both the early 1960s black MGM label and the later blue and gold MGM label had white-label deejay counterparts. At least until the mid-1960s, deejay issues were most likely to be mono only, but with the rise of FM-stereo stations playing pop music, stereo deejay promos became common after 1965.

But these white-label counterparts were not always used for deejay issue. More often, MGM used a yellow label derived from the 1950s yellow label, which said, "Special Disc Jockey Record". These were quite common even in the late 1960s, much more common in fact than the white-label counterparts of the regular label. Some of the labels in the deejay promotional series used labels that had no logo, just black print on a blank white label stock.

We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with MGM Records or Universal Music Group, who currently own the masters. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2000 by Mike Callahan.