November 15, 2021
Many artists in the music industry are having a tough time “getting into the groove,” according to a recent report by The Economist.
The publication cites the case of Green Lung, a London heavy-metal act with a cult following who were about to go on their first American tour after producing their premiere album when COVID-19 shut it down.
The band used ensuing lockdowns to produce a second album, “Black Harvest.” By December 2020, it was recorded and ready to be mastered and pressed onto 5,000 gold-vinyl records. Given pandemic disruptions, Green Lung gave itself lots of time, fully nine months, to make these in time for a tour this past September. “We were fairly comfortable,” says Tom Templar, the lead singer.
First CDs, then digital downloads, and now pvc streaming have made vinyl records look like a vintage curiosity. In recent years, however, sales have soared, as fans have taken to owning their favorite bands’ music in physical form (waxing insistent about its supposedly better sound quality). In March vinyl sales in Britain reached highs last seen in 1989.
“Every artist in the world has spent 18 months twiddling their thumbs, so they are making records,” says Ed Macdonald, the manager of 100% Records, which represents artists such as We Are Scientists, an indie rock band. “Vinyl is such an integral part of our turnover,” he says. Mainstream artists are increasingly involved. Taylor Swift’s album, “Evermore”, first released digitally in December, broke a 30-year record for vinyl sales. Albums are expected to be released soon by Ed Sheeran, Abba, and Coldplay.
Unfortunately for musicians, getting them pressed is becoming close to impossible. In the late 1990s and early 2000s most vinyl-pressing factories closed. As COVID-19 raged, the biggest remaining ones—in America, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland—had to shut temporarily, creating a backlog. Now demand from musicians is outstripping capacity.
Dirk van den Heuvel of Groove Distribution, a distributor of dance music in Chicago, says that the big labels created the crisis by closing their own pressing factories in the 2000s. If they had kept these running, he grumbles, the majors would have been ready for the demand and smaller musicians would not now be so squeezed. It is true that big labels can often secure priority on the presses. But not always.
It may be cold comfort to van den Heuvel or Green Lung, but Taylor Swift’s fans had to wait months for their LPs, too.
Research contact: @TheEconomist
