Is it true records are sealed to look better....

Yes, new LPs do need cleaning. This helps remove any residual mold release agent, any bits of paper or card present if they were sleeved in paper (as many still unfortunately are) and overall give you a nice clean disc to start with -- of course they should then go in brand new inner sleeves as well.

I'm not convinced you need a 45min regimen however, but everyone has their own recipe!

Just to be clear the guy was saying the record surface  itself is treated  prior to sale at least in some cases for the explicit purpose of hiding imperfections and looking better than actual condition and cleaning for 45 minutes with the ultrasonic cleaner was needed to remove this gunk. 

I recall he claimed this was common practice possibly by vendors selling used  and/or new records.  It was news to me.  

Just as they put wax on apples destined for the supermarket.

@elizabeth ,

You've never cleaned new records?
WOW! my friend, you have a whole other world waiting on you.
Good luck.

@mapman

I don’t think new records are "sealed" with a coating to hide imperfections. However, new records may have mold release agent and other contaminants on their surfaces. Cleaning new records to remove all traces of contaminants that were deposited during manufacture and packaging is a good idea. But I don’t think it should take 45 minutes.

I clean nearly every record that comes into my house, new or used, with the handy dandy spin clean. It’s good enough for me and it only takes a couple of minutes.

BTW, I hope I'm correct and it is not a common practice to treat damaged records to make them look better.

Thanks for the tip on the Spin Clean.  Might have to give that a try. 

There's often dust and paper debris in new records and it certainly won't hurt to clean them.  I have a VPI and sometimes clean new records, but generally don't (mostly due to laziness).  I have at times picked up a bunch of junk on my stylus after playing a new record.

I haven't heard of records stores spraying stuff on used records to hide imperfections.  The local record store I frequent does use a VPI to clean most of their records.  Most of the other shops I've been to, I have to clean their used records before putting them on my table.

SOME vendors will indeed spray something on used records to make the surface look shiny and with fewer imperfections. I have heard thatsome use Armor All! Ack.

New records have nothing on them except mold release agent. I clean all new records before their first spin.

You should also know that there is such a thing as an LP resealing machine. Every Tower Records had one in it's back room; every returned LP was visually inspected, and a disc with no obvious defects (scratches, etc.) was cleaned of fingerprints (with Windex and a paper towel!), reinserted into it's sleeve and cover, and put into a sheet of plastic very similar to the factory one, and sealed. The LP was then put back into the store's racks, and resold to an unsuspecting customer. That an LP is sealed is no absolute guarantee that it is new. One thing that proves a sealed LP is actually factory-fresh is a descriptive sticker on the plastic wrap. Another thing to look for is a seal right on the edge of the cover; the record store resealing machine produced that seal, factory sealing machines didn't.

There is no such thing as "mold release agent." That is another urban myth.

I don't clean new Lp's either.  @elizabeth:  One of our local used record stores has a few sealed used Lp's.  I bit once, never again.

I think the term 'sealing' is being used in two different contexts here: shrink wrapping the jacket a/k/a a 'sealed record' and some sort of sealing agent put on the vinyl. I am unaware (not that I'm the last word on any of this) of a coating being put onto new vinyl to conceal pressing defects, but am certainly aware of used records being treated with all kinds of stuff to make them look clean. One of the many reasons cleaning used vinyl is essential-- to remove the residue of prior 'cleanings'-
As to concealing defects, there are some papers on file at the AES that discussed the value of carbon black being used not only as an anti-static agent, but concealing 'plate out' issues in pressing. 
My take on the mold release agent is that it is over-hyped as a problem. I do think a lot of brand new records are dirty, but that's because of the environment in which they are made and the handling of them before they are finally sleeved and jacketed. Some of the inner sleeves used don't help either. 
I do clean 'new' records whether or not they appear contaminated or have any paper flecks or other detritus from handling. 

Let's be very clear about this "mold release agent" thing and put it to bed once and for all. The hot vinyl biscuit gets deposited between the two preheated stampers and the biscuit is then pressed. The stampers are cooled via water jackets, separated and the record is released from the press. There is no added anything to the process. There is no "PAM" that is sprayed onto the stampers or treated to the prestamped biscuit. It is simply the vinyl substrate on the record surface, nothing else.

New records don’t need to be cleaned. There’s no mould release nothing, never has been, never will. Just nonsense from the misinformed. Ultra sonic cleaners are snake oil.

So I just opened a brand new Yarlung LP - - volume 2 of the Yuko Mabuchi - an audiophile pressing in a lovely non static inner liner. 

The disc was covered in a fine patina of card or paper scraps, probably from the jacket or something -- so whether or not mold release agent exists or not the assumption that new records are in any way clean is patently false.

On other threads there are postings of the far from asceptic interiors of pressing plants. Why wouldn't you clean a disc before playing? 

@twoleftears - I always wash new clothes before wearing.