We all know there are production capacity issues with vinyl right now. What can you do as an artist? How about you buy your own pressing plant? That’s what Metallica have done and I don’t see why you can’t too.
The band have acquired a majority stake in the Virginia-based Furnace Record Pressing, which they have been working with since 2014 – pressing up more than five million pieces of Metallica vinyl in that time.
“Building Furnace into the dedicated and experienced family of experts that it is today has been a huge effort, but immensely gratifying”, says the company’s founder Eric Astor. “Knowing our long-term future is secured while also being better able to take advantage of growth opportunities is really exciting for every member of the Furnace staff”.
COO Ali Miller adds: “We have found ideal partners in Metallica. They want us to continue our customer driven focus. To that end we look forward to providing even greater capacity and service to each of our customers in the future”.
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich comments: “We couldn’t be more happy to take our partnership with Furnace – and Eric, Ali and Mark [Reiter, VP Manufacturing Operations] specifically – to the next level. Their indie spirit, the passion they have for their craft… culturally we’re kindred souls”.
Not wanting to be left out, frontman James Hetfield chips in: “Furnace has been great to Metallica and more importantly to our fans. This deepened relationship between Metallica and Furnace ensures that fans of vinyl everywhere, particularly our Fifth Members [that’s what they call the band’s fan club members], will have continued access to high quality records in the future”.
Furnace was founded in 1996 and now runs fourteen presses. Astor, Miller and Reiter will all remain at the company and sit on the board of directors.