Earlier this year, vinyl enthusiast Jack White announced that his Nashville-based Third Man Records would be expanding with a retail store location in his hometown of Detroit. Now, it's been revealed that an accompanying vinyl pressing plant will also be opening.
Incorporated into the building at 441 West Canfield Street, the plant will operate using brand new record presses. As explained in a press release, "There's a bottlenecking in the record pressing industry right now — so much glorious demand, so few presses."
The new machinery — eight presses to be exact — was purchased from German startup Newbilt. In addition to helping "ease the flow" of vinyl demand, Third Man hopes that the new business will bring "real-life manufacturing jobs back to Detroit."
And while the new plant will ensure convenient manufacturing for Third Man releases, co-founder Ben Blackwell told Pitchfork that the presses will be available to other up-and-coming artists and DIY labels, as well.
"Part of the concern in this world is that vinyl can very easily turn into an exclusionary thing," he said. "But this is going to make it easier for a little punk band to make 300 copies of a 7-inch."
The Detroit retail store is set to open for Black Friday on November 27, and while the vinyl plant won't be up and running until mid-2016, it's an exciting endeavour for music fans to look forward to.
Incorporated into the building at 441 West Canfield Street, the plant will operate using brand new record presses. As explained in a press release, "There's a bottlenecking in the record pressing industry right now — so much glorious demand, so few presses."
The new machinery — eight presses to be exact — was purchased from German startup Newbilt. In addition to helping "ease the flow" of vinyl demand, Third Man hopes that the new business will bring "real-life manufacturing jobs back to Detroit."
And while the new plant will ensure convenient manufacturing for Third Man releases, co-founder Ben Blackwell told Pitchfork that the presses will be available to other up-and-coming artists and DIY labels, as well.
"Part of the concern in this world is that vinyl can very easily turn into an exclusionary thing," he said. "But this is going to make it easier for a little punk band to make 300 copies of a 7-inch."
The Detroit retail store is set to open for Black Friday on November 27, and while the vinyl plant won't be up and running until mid-2016, it's an exciting endeavour for music fans to look forward to.
