Metallica is expanding its financial portfolio once again. This time around, the band is investing in Furnace Record Pressing, a vinyl pressing plant based in Alexandria, Virginia.
The new business venture was announced via press release. Metallica’s investment in Furnace gives them majority interest in the plant, which has been pressing the band’s vinyl releases since 2014. The press release notes Furnace has pressed over five million vinyl records for Metallica during that time.
Metallica sees this investment as an opportunity better to serve its fans and their demand for vinyl. James Hetfield said in a statement, “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, will have continued access to high quality records in the future.”
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In recent years, the demand for vinyl has been growing. Billboard notes in a report that vinyl album sales grew for the 17th straight year in 2022. However, the outlet also mentioned sales growth year-over-year is slowing down.
Part of this might be due to supply issues and the overall lack of available pressing plants. It’s an issue Jack White called attention to in March 2022. White shared a video titled “A Plea to the Three Global Major Labels from Jack White.” In the video, he called on music’s three biggest labels — Warner Brothers, Universal and Sony — to build their own pressing plants again. White noted that with the number of plants available now, “A small punk band can’t get their record for eight to ten months.” He concluded, “As the MC5 once said, ‘You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.’ Thank you.”
Unsurprisingly, White is quite pleased about this Metallica news. He shared, in part, via Instagram, ” Welcome to the cause gents! … Here’s hoping the major labels will also see this as further proof, and finally start investing in themselves.”
