Budget album

Drugstore records or budget records were cheap LP albums records often sold in racks in drugstores or dime stores in the 1960s for prices half or a quarter of regular LP albums. Drugstore records mostly comprised popular music played or sung by unknown orchestras or singers, or conversely, once famous singers or orchestras playing music or songs that were relatively unknown.

Brands

Labels of American Drugstore records include Crown, Custom, Diplomat, and Wyncote Records. Based on the impressive sales of these cheap items, some major labels brought out their own budget records, for example MGM Records releasing Metro Records and United Artists Records producing Unart Records. These mainstream offshoots often were older albums once released by the main company but due to the length of the album (on a cheaper plastic than more expensive LP's) could only include 5 tracks on each side rather than 6.