The White Label Auction, held to raise money for the BRIT Trust, returns on June 7, 2022, with around 170 rare white label test pressing collectibles going under the hammer.
First staged in October 2019, the auction will be hosted live on site and online by the music memorabilia and vinyl records specialists Omega Auctions.
Net profits will go to support the work of industry charity the BRIT Trust. Through its two editions to date, the White Label Auction has raised close to £60,000 for The BRIT Trust.
A number of the UK’s major and independent record labels, led by Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner, Cherry Red, Cooking Vinyl, Domino Records and others, have joined forces to pull together a selection of white label items for auction.
Among the discs that fan will be able to bid for are those by signed and annotated by Robert Smith, Dio, Howard Devoto, and Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys. Other featured items include catalogue repertoire from artists including Coldplay, The Cranberries, Genesis, Mike Oldfield, The Moody Blues, The Police, Rory Gallagher, Roxy Music, Simple Minds, Sparks, the Who and the Spice Girls.
Johnny Chandler, A&R director at UMC, Universal Music UK, devised the concept of the White Label Auction.
He said: “Interest in the auction has grown markedly over the past two successful editions, and this year we have even more rare test pressings to tempt bidders, including for the first time 7" singles, which we hope will help us set a new record for the amount we raise in aid of the BRIT Trust. Huge thanks must go to all the artists and artist management teams, the record labels and colleagues who’ve dug deep again this year and donated so generously with highly collectible recordings drawn from all eras and genres of music.”
Dan Hampson, auction manager at Omega Auctions, said: “We’re very pleased to once again be working alongside the BRIT Trust, Universal Music, Warner, Sony, Cherry Red, Cooking Vinyl and all the other record labels and the BPI on what has proven to be a very popular auction amongst our buyers. We’ve seen a sustained rise in prices paid for both vinyl and music memorabilia in the last few years which shows no sign of slowing down so this sale comes along at a perfect time for us. The fact that the items come directly from the label, the scarcity of the white labels and also that many of the records are signed has meant that we’ve seen some fantastic prices achieved in 2019 and in 2021 and we certainly expect to see the total raised for charity to be a record this year.”
The Brit Trust supports a wide range of causes that promote education and wellbeing through music, such as The BRIT School and Nordoff Robbins music therapy among many others.
