Metallica Learns to Press Vinyl at Their Vinyl Plant

Metallica is clearly not afraid to learn new things, as evidenced by a video they shared learning how to press vinyl at Furnace Record Pressing, the Virginia-based vinyl pressing plant [inlink id="metallica-members-share-the-first-vinyl-record-they-ever-bought" text="they invested in in March 2023"].In the video below, each member of Metallica learns to press vinyl step-by-step. In fact, each member presses a "splatter vinyl" of their classic album Ride the Lightning. The clip is cheekily captioned, "Even with 43 years and 12 LPs under their belts, the fine folks at Furnace Record Pressing can still teach Metallica a thing or two about ~making~ a record." https://youtu.be/pTzZ7YMqF9s?si=7TagQMJuLpwXsd7Z When Metallica invested in Furnace Record Pressing in 2023, they gained a majority interest in the plant, which was first founded in 2014 and has pressed over five million vinyl records for Metallica over the years.Metallica saw this investment as an opportunity to better 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."While Metallica has seen the value in investing in a vinyl pressing plant, the growing popularity of vinyl hasn't exactly translated into turntable sales. According to a report from Luminate (h/t Music Business Worldwide), 50% of consumers who purchased music on vinyl in their 12-month study don't own a turntable. You know...the thing that actually plays the vinyl!So, what's the point of owning vinyl if you don't actually play it? Music Business Worldwide cited a 2016 BBC story that talked to a vinyl customer who didn't own a turntable. This customer told the BBC, "I just collect them and put them on my wall, I think it looks great. I literally do it based on how it looks, or if I feel like I have a connection with the artist… If I think it’ll look good on my wall, so be it."While the concept of owning music you can't play still seems silly, displaying vinyl sleeves is incredibly popular. A simple internet search of "vinyl wall display" yields a wide variety of results for nearly every price point. Clearly, there is a demand for this, but it still would be nice if vinyl owners actually owned turntables, too.