Vinylgeddon

In Banning, California, on Feb. 6th, the Apollo Masters Plant was destroyed by a 3 alarm blaze that took 82 brave souls hours to bring under control. It was one of only 2 plants making blank lacquer masters in the whole world. The other, MDC plant in Japan, was much smaller and already overtaxed due to the current demand for vinyl. It will not be able to pick up the slack. There is another process called DMM (direct metal mastering) but it's very expensive and most plants making records can't afford to convert their machines after not making the initial investment.

According to Billboard, this is vinylgeddon! No blank lacquer masters, no master plates. No master plates, no vinyl. The owners of the Apollo plant are not sure when, if ever, they will be back up and running. I wonder how this will affect the prices of new releases over the next year or so; and how will this affect used record values?

Nah. It's not that big a deal.

https://blog.discogs.com/en/why-the-fire-at-apollo-masters-doesnt-mean-vinylgeddon/

You should see the thread about this fire on the Steve Hoffman Music Forum. Some of the vinyl junkies there are practically slitting their wrists over it.

Frankly, I'd be more concerned with the amount of master recordings that were lost in the Universal Vault Fire of 2008, the depth of which is only now coming to light:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html

(^^^ Note: every music nerd should read this article, regardless of genre. It's long and heartbreaking, but SO worth it)

^^Yeah that Universal fire was no joke. Vault fires have happened throughout history but I doubt on that scope. Destroying part of the theme park was just adding insult to injury.

Witchfinder wrote:

Nah. It's not that big a deal.

https://blog.discogs.com/en/why-the-fire-at-apollo-masters-doesnt-mean-vinylgeddon/

That's a fascinating article, especially the bit about the history of Apollo. And optimistically...

Quote :

Gil Tamazyan, the owner of Capsule Labs pressing plant in Los Angeles, told the Desert Sun newspaper that, “The worst case from (the fire) would be if Apollo doesn’t plan to return and doesn’t share the intellectual properties with another new willing company.”

...doesn't change much of anything. Still too bad it happened, tho.

Fat Freddy wrote:

You should see the thread about this fire on the Steve Hoffman Music Forum. Some of the vinyl junkies there are practically slitting their wrists over it.

Frankly, I'd be more concerned with the amount of master recordings that were lost in the Universal Vault Fire of 2008, the depth of which is only now coming to light:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html

(^^^ Note: every music nerd should read this article, regardless of genre. It's long and heartbreaking, but SO worth it)

Yes, long. But fascinating.Thanks, Fredo.

I think we will have to wait about 6 months or so to see how this plays out. The masters are still around for the stuff that has already been released, it's obviously the upcoming releases and new albums that were to be released on vinyl that will be affected. I wonder if the industry will use this unfortunate event to raise some prices? I wouldn't put it past them.

Surely someone out there knows how to make lacquers. Maybe they can get the formula from the guy in Japan who does it. Here's an update from Gotta Groove and they say 12 inch records will not impact them for the most part and they will still be able to press albums as always and offer test pressings of new material. https://www.gottagrooverecords.com/2020/02/statement-on-apollo-transco-fire/

Since I waited a while to get in on the vinyl collecting craze ( I didn't buy anything until a few years back) I was not just waiting fro prices to drop and the wave to crest a bit, but also for more b level 1980's re releases and not the just the platinum sellers. I hope that that isn't impacted?