Following up on my post of last month about the survival and revival of vinyl records, I stumbled across a neat story and quote supporting my argument that the winners from this (apart from the fans) would be “those who have persisted with pressing plants, artwork services etc [and] are now reaping the rewards of their persistence and rare capabilities.”
Über- trendy Monocle magazine has a report in their most recent issue (Dec 09, Jan 10) on London’s The Vinyl Factory (TVF). It turns out a couple of clever chaps picked EMI’s old vinyl press and associated staff for peanuts back in 2001 and have turned it into a powerhouse of fantastically packaged and produced records from artists like Massive Attack, Pet Shop Boys and Timbaland.
Here’s some neat footage of how they make them (it’s always good to feed the consumer fetish with some production porn):
I love this quote from the article (first it’s TVF’s creative director Sean Bidder speaking, then the magazine):
“”Music fans might get 95 per cent of their music for free, but this means they are even more careful with how they invest that 5 percent,” says Bidder. Although “breadth for free” may seem to be the future for much of the media, depth is always going to be valuable, and companies like TVF produce experiences worth paying for.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
And in looking for a pic to illustrate this story I discovered there is an Aussie subsidiary/version of this outfit (see here for a 2007 news story). Finally, a pay-off from the protectionism that pretty much forced local manufacturing upon multinationals in Australia up until the 1970s – a factory that could be resuscitated.
Tags: Australia, EMI, Massive Attack, music industry, Pet Shop Boys, protectionism, record industry, Strategic management, The Vinyl Factory, Timbaland, vinyl
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