The initial pressing of R.E.M.’s 1981 “Radio Free Europe” single contained 1,000 copies.
The single was released in July 1981 on Hib-Tone, a small independent label, after R.E.M. recorded the song with producer Mitch Easter at Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The limited run quickly became an important early artifact of the Athens music scene.
Of the 1,000-copy initial pressing, about 600 copies were sent out for promotional use, leaving roughly 400 for distribution through record stores and other channels. A second pressing later added 6,000 copies and corrected the omission of Hib-Tone’s contact address on the original release.
The original version is not the same recording as the slower, revised version R.E.M. made for Murmur in 1983. That distinction often causes confusion when collectors and quiz sources discuss the single’s pressing history.