Liquidation of Ireland’s solely vinyl file maker ‘little bit of a catastrophe’ for native music business

THE NEWS THAT Ireland’s solely vinyl file maker went into liquidation final week has come as a blow to the Irish music business and affected some upcoming releases from Irish artists.  

Dublin Vinyl was established in 2016 and in addition to urgent records for native artists, the corporate had contracts with main worldwide file labels. 

On 4 March, liquidators had been appointed to cope with the corporate by the High Court after Dublin Vinyl skilled important monetary difficulties owing to numerous components. 

As a results of the corporate going into liquidation, Irish rock band Ham Sandwich has stated their order to press copies of their newest dwell album, launched this week, has been cancelled. 

In a submit on Instagram, the band stated they had been “devastated” by the information of Dublin Vinyl’s closure. 

The band stated refunds had been to be issued this week and that The Live Album would nonetheless be launched on iTunes & Bandcamp. 

“It is extremely unlucky that this has occurred and we ship out our love and assist to all the employees & households on the plant dealing with uncertainty. It’s such a loss to the music business in Ireland,” the band stated. 

Irish musician David Kitt has additionally lamented the information of the corporate’s liquidation, describing it as a “catastrophe” for himself personally as a result of he had a significant re-release set for manufacturing with Dublin Vinyl.  

“While that is clearly a much bigger deal for full-time workers of the corporate who at the moment are unemployed, it’s additionally a little bit of a catastrophe for me personally with the Not Fade Away re-issue about to enter manufacturing,” he stated on Instagram on Tuesday. 

Kitt additionally stated he had not heard from Dublin Vinyl for the reason that information of their going into liquidation broke final week. The launch had been up for order on the corporate’s web site and there had already been important gross sales, he stated. 

“From what I can collect, some purchasers’ clients have been refunded however none of mine have. It leaves a extremely unhealthy style that essentially the most loyal a part of my fanbase who’ve splashed out on merch and so forth are those affected right here.”

‘A shock’

One Irish music producer described the information of the closure as a shock, particularly given the rising demand for vinyl records. 

“Competitors in Europe are providing the identical companies for cheaper,” stated Larry Leaba of the Irish file label Wah Wah Wino, providing one potential clarification for Dublin Vinyl’s struggles – at the very least when it got here to getting enterprise from impartial labels. 

He added that the recognition of vinyl has been exerting stress on impartial artists, who get put to the again of the queue in favour of fulfilling contracts from main labels.  

“Until mainstream demand for pop artists on vinyl decreases, and till the key labels cease urgent Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em within the form of the texas flag or no matter, there’ll all the time be an extended wait, a decrease high quality press, and way more printing errors for all impartial labels on the market – which is just a little irritating for individuals who stored the vinyl urgent business alive within the first place, earlier than the pattern got here again.” 

Liquidation the one possibility

On 4 March, the High Court appointed joint provisional liquidators to the corporate, which the court docket heard employs 22 full-time workers and 4 full-time contractor employees. 

The firm sustained important losses in 2022 and 2023 because of components together with the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, the warfare in Ukraine, the lack of a significant contract, and the failure of file urgent machines it had ordered to reach on time.

As a outcome, the corporate had determined to petition the court docket for the appointment of two joint provisional liquidators. The court docket heard the corporate had checked out options, together with examinership, however had been of the opinion that the best choice was to liquidate.

Justice Oisin Quinn stated he was glad to nominate the liquidators as the corporate was clearly bancrupt.

The firm’s barrister stated that Dublin Vinyl was within the means of finishing contracts value €500,000, together with making records for a number of labels with artists together with “Taylor Swift, whose followers we’d not wish to disappoint”. 

Dublin Vinyl’s authorized counsel stated the corporate had of late come beneath stress from its collectors, together with its vitality provider, which had threatened to chop off its electrical energy over unpaid payments.

Includes reporting from Aodhain O’Faolain