French pressing plant delays wreak havoc with labels’ schedules

Delays at French vinyl pressing plant MPO are causing serious issues with the schedules of a number of dance music labels and distributors.

Hotflush, Versatile, трип, Dance Mania, Red Ember, who are all part of Above Board Distribution, have all been affected heavily, resulting in many releases being pushed back until next year without warning.

R&S boss Andy Whittaker, who has a 15-year-plus relationship with MPO told RA: “It's the worst it's ever been by a long way. MPO have offered apologies but they have made some bad business decisions this year.”

As one of Europe’s oldest and biggest vinyl pressing facilities, delays are not uncommon at MPO. But with the renewed interest in vinyl from major labels, the industry is still under pressure despite the opening of new plants around the globe.

MPO sent an apology letter to customers last month.

Kompakt co-owner Michael Mayer told RA MPO alone couldn’t be blamed and the delays were part of an overarching industry problem.

"Ten years ago, the turnaround of record was three-to-four weeks," he said. "That was before the majors discovered that they can make a fast buck with vinyl reissues. Now it takes up to 12 weeks until we get finished product. MPO should not be finger pointed here as Kompakt is working with a larger array of pressing plants—big and small, new and established. We find that none of them work significantly faster."

[Via: RA]

Louis Anderson-Rich is Mixmag's Digital Producer. Follow him on Twitter