Plucky indie hopes to make a dent in the backlog.
The vinyl revival has left the handful of remaining pressing plants struggling to keep up with demand, resulting in painful production delays for labels. Fed up with waiting months on end to get their records pressed, US imprint Fat Possum has decided to tackle the problem head-on by opening its own pressing plant.
Memphis Record Pressing has nine presses churning out between 7,000 and 14,000 records a day. The machines themselves were “fixer-uppers” bought for $100,000 in total – a steal compared to the $200-250,000 you’d expect to pay for a press that needs no refurbishment. Though the output is only a fraction of the quantity produced by industry giant United Record Pressing, owners Matthew Johnson and Bruce Watson reckon they can make a sizeable dent in the market.
“I’ve had 3,000 Modest Mouse records stuck in customs that’s cost me a lot of money at Christmas,” Johnson told Billboard of the current vinyl market. “I hate this business. It’s getting so bad. If I want to sit down, I feel like I have to cut a tree down, cut it into boards, make a chair — it’s ridiculous. You used to not have to worry about manufacturing. Now you do.
You can read (and watch) the rest of this article courtesy of the FACT Magazine website here
…be sure to check eil.com where there is no shortage of quality vinyl…..
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