Haarlem vinyl pressing plant expands significantly
July 18, 2022 – NH Nieuws, The Netherlands
Interest in LPs is so great that even the world’s largest vinyl pressing plant, in Haarlem, can barely handle the demand. As a result, artists sometimes have to wait months for their albums. With the purchase of new, modern vinyl presses, production will soon be scaled up from 11 million records to 15 million a year.
That number is dwarfed by the heyday of records in the 1980s, when 50 million records a year were pressed in Haarlem.
The high point was Michael Jackson’s album Thriller, of which 30,000 rolled off the tape every day. Since the advent of the CD, no new vinyl presses have ever been made, so there are machines in Haarlem that are decades old and need a lot of maintenance. With the arrival of the new, modern presses, an extra 4 million records could be pressed every year.
Missed opportunity
Commercial director Anouk Rijnders of Record Industry hopes that soon artists will no longer have to wait months for their new album. “Many artists like to sell their product when they are on tour, because that is also income. A tour is often linked to the promotion for your album, so if that’s not there, it’s really a missed opportunity,” according to Rijnders.
Due to the expansion in Haarlem, there is a great need for additional staff in several areas of the company.
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