Jack White has released written and filmed statements urging major record labels to build their own vinyl pressing plants. White specifically addressed Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, claiming that additional plants would help “accommodate the insane growing demand for vinyl product” given the increased sales of the format, which has led to supply chain issues and manufacturing bottlenecks.
“At least once a week, without fail, someone will reach out asking me to help expedite their vinyl record manufacturing,” White wrote in his statement. “It’s a natural thought… knowing that I own a pressing plant and have my own record label, ‘if anyone could help, it’s this guy!’” White continues to point out that his plant alone cannot handle the massive demand for vinyl LPs. “With industry-wide turnaround times for vinyl currently leaning towards the length of a human pregnancy, it’s obvious, in a world so contingent on being of-the-moment and timed just right (a single, an album, a tour etc.), these timelines are the killers of momentum, soul, artistic expression, and far too often, livelihoods,” he writes. “Something needs to be done.” Find his full statement and video below.
Revisit “Let’s Build a Home: Third Man Records Returns to Detroit” and “A Major Music Distributor Has Stifled Vinyl Sales for Record Stores and Indie Labels, Sources Say.”
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
At least once a week, without fail, someone will reach out asking me to help expedite their vinyl record manufacturing. It’s a natural thought… knowing that I own a pressing plant and have my own record label, “if anyone could help, it’s this guy!”
With industry-wide turnaround times for vinyl currently leaning towards the length of a human pregnancy, it’s obvious, in a world so contingent on being of-the-moment and timed just right (a single, an album, a tour etc.), these timelines are the killers of momentum, soul, artistic expression, and far too often, livelihoods.
I’ve done everything within my power to help. Third Man Records began a concentrated focus on vinyl in 2009 with hopes of exposing its wider potential to the farthest reaches of the music industry. In 2017 I furthered my commitment by opening Third Man Pressing… a plant which has always been open to anyone and everyone who walks in the door and wants to press a record, from bedroom hip hop artists to field recording documentarians. And in the last year, I’ve doubled down and invested in even more record presses, more employees to run them, and more shifts to try and accommodate the insane growing demand for vinyl product.
There are people who will say—isn’t this good for Third Man? More demand than you can handle? To which I say, even though Third Man benefits in the short term, in the long term it ultimately hurts everyone involved in the vinyl ecosystem given the bottlenecks and delays. Something needs to be done.
