Alexandria, VA (March 14, 2023)—In a transfer that underscores the continued financial affect of vinyl’s return, thrash steel giants Metallica have acquired a majority curiosity in Alexandria, VA-based Furnace Record Pressing, which manufactures vinyl records and provides associated companies.
Founded by Eric Astor in 1996, Furnace has a 70,000-square-foot facility housing a dozen Pheenix Alpha presses and two Finebilt presses—capability that enables it to provide an estimated 25,000 records a day. The band and urgent plant have had a working relationship going again practically a decade, as the corporate has manufactured greater than 5 million Metallica records since 2014; going ahead, Furnace will proceed to additionally serve different labels and artists as properly.
Metallica Marks 40 Years of Mayhem
Given at the moment strained vinyl manufacturing capacities throughout the trade, the acquisition is probably going an uncommon strategic transfer, however a music act proudly owning its personal vinyl urgent plant isn’t unprecedented—one solely has to level to Jack White’s well-known Third Man Records firm, which has developed its Detroit urgent facility into one thing of a rock ‘n’ roll tourism vacation spot. Metallica, nevertheless, might properly produce other causes for shifting deeper into the vinyl world. The band famously fought filesharing through the Napster period—a transfer that, whereas well-justified, damage the band’s popularity in some elements of its fanbase—and embracing the manufacturing of bodily media could be consistent with that ethos.
The Furnace buy might also be associated to the latest hiatus of the Metallica Vinyl Club mail-order subscription service. After dropping eight releases in two years, the service went on indefinite hiatus in December, 2022 with a message to members that said “Since you’re all collectors, you already know that present vinyl demand is exceeding manufacturing capabilities. Across the music world, all artists are coping with delays…. we’re not going to supply a renewal for the following Vinyl Club subscription at the moment. We don’t but have a goal date for the following subscription 12 months.” Metallica buying its personal vinyl urgent plant would seemingly pave the way in which for the subscription plan’s return.
The group has embraced vinyl’s resurgence over the previous couple of years in different methods as properly, from collaborating with Germany’s Pro-Ject Audio Systems on a $1,600, limited-edition Metallica turntable, to issuing deluxe field set editions of the band’s Kill ’Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets, …And Justice For All, Metallica (The Black Album) and S&M2, all of which had been pressed at Furnace.
Astor (Founder, CEO), Ali Miller (COO) and Mark Reiter (VP, Operations) will proceed of their roles at Furnace, will probably be on the corporate’s board of administrators and can moreover stay as fairness homeowners of the corporate. In an announcement, Astor famous, “Building Furnace into the devoted and skilled household of consultants that it’s right this moment has been an enormous effort, however immensely gratifying. Knowing our long-term future is secured whereas additionally being higher capable of reap the benefits of development alternatives is absolutely thrilling for each member of the Furnace workers.”
COO Ali Miller added, “We have discovered supreme companions in Metallica. They need us to proceed our customer-driven focus. To that finish, we look ahead to offering even higher capability and repair to every of our prospects sooner or later.”