There are four main reasons why records have inner sleeves: protection, imparting information, tying in with the outer sleeve, and for advertising.
When you buy a record, specifically an LP, inside the outer sleeve, your record will be housed in an inner sleeve. These can range from a simple, plain paper sleeve, to a beautifully designed artwork which matches the feel of the album.
Most 12” and 7” singles will often not come with an inner sleeve, relying on only their outer sleeve for protection, so naturally, they get damaged easier.
What Are Inner Sleeves Made From?
Most inner sleeves released with an album will either be made of paper or card. This is soft, and usually relatively durable, so they offer good protection for the record, if the records are kept in an area which is free from damp. We tend to see damage coming from paper sleeves when records have been kept in colder areas like lofts or garages, where moisture can get trapped in the paper, and cause mould to form.
Sometimes, records like picture discs will come housed in a PVC sleeve and nothing else, which can be very damaging for a record, as when exposed to heat, the PVC can 'offgas' into the record and cause irreversible damage. A more preferable option to PVC sleeves is polythene. While it is still made of plastic, it doesn’t react to the heat like PVC does.
Here at Atlas Records, every record we sell is housed in an archival-quality, anti-static HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) inner sleeve. We also sell these on our website if you would like to protect your records in the same way.
What Purposes do Inner Sleeves Hold, Other than Protection?
1. Informational Inner Sleeves:
A record’s inner sleeve is an ideal place for a copyright notice. This was heavily pushed out in the early 1980s when the British Phonographic Industry started their ‘Home Taping Is Killing Music’ campaign, but many inner sleeves had copyright messages such as these, warning customers not to reproduce the music illegally.
Some older record inner sleeves have information about how to play and care for the record, and sometimes even the record player. These are often found on 60s records, when record players were becoming more of a mainstream purchase and people were learning how to use them, but they can be found on more modern inner sleeves too.
2. Inner Sleeves for Advertisement:
Record labels would often use a record’s inner sleeve to advertise other products they were selling. This is commonly seen across the decades, in various designs, ranging from a simple list of albums that may interest the customer, like you might see in a magazine, to more complex methods of advertising. CBS Records started to release an advertising inner sleeve in the 1970s which was set out like a newspaper, heralding details of musicians newly released titles.
3. As a Tie-In to the Record:
Many records, especially more modern pressings, have beautiful pictures and artwork adorning their inner sleeves. Sometimes the artwork from the outer sleeve is carried over onto the inner sleeve, or the inner sleeve is used to depict movie stills from film soundtracks, or song lyrics from the titles on the album.
Inner Sleeves Found At Atlas Records:
If a record has a printed inner sleeve, it will be photographed alongside the outer sleeve, and displayed on the product listing on the website.
If a record has a plain paper, or advertisement sleeve, it won't be photographed, but it will be listed in the item description as a 'plain paper' sleeve.
All of the records we sell are put in their own anti-static inner sleeve to make sure your records are best protected so you can enjoy them for many years to come!
