Vinyl Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Metallica have purchased a majority stake in a vinyl pressing plant in Virginia.Furnace Record Pressing in Alexandria, Virginia is one of the largest pressing plants in the United States, with 12 Pheenix Alpha presses and two Finebilt presses.In the past, it has pressed a host of reissues for Metallica, including box set vinyl of their albums ‘Kill ‘Em All’, ‘Ride The Lightning’ and ‘Master Of Puppets’.The band are now majority partners in the plant, which was founded in 1996 by Eric Astor. In a statement, Astor said: “Building Furnace into the dedicated and experienced family of experts that it is today has been a huge effort, but immensely gratifying.“Knowing our long-term future is secured while also being better able to take advantage of growth opportunities is really exciting for every member of the Furnace staff.”Metallica’s Lars Ulrich said: “We couldn’t be more happy to take our partnership with Furnace — and Eric, Ali and Mark specifically — to the next level.

Countdown’s ticking and we’re pumped. And (if I’m honest) pretty jittery.

Taylor Swift fans for “putting words into my mouth” after she seemingly shaded Swift for not being environmentally conscious. “Okay so it would be so awesome if people would stop putting words into my mouth and actually read what I said in that billboard article,” the 22-year-old singer wrote in an Instagram story.

Billie Eilish has responded to the backlash against her recent comments on artists releasing multiple vinyl variants.In an interview with Billboard discussing her climate activism, Eilish made headlines for criticising the practise of releasing multiple vinyl variants to boost album sales, calling it “wasteful”. “It’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money — and it’s all your favorite artists doing that sh-t,” she added.Some outlets such as TMZ and The New York Post interpreted Eilish’s comments as a dig at Taylor Swift, who is known for releasing multiple variants of her albums.

Billie Eilish has criticised artists who release multiple vinyl formats to boost album sales, calling the practise “really frustrating”.The artist made the comments in a new interview with Billboard, where Eilish and her mother Maggie Baird discussed their history of environmental activism – and in particular, their work towards making vinyl more sustainable.“We live in this day and age where, for some reason, it’s very important to some artists to make all sorts of different vinyl and packaging,” Eilish began, “which ups the sales and ups the numbers and gets them more money.”After Baird interrupted to point out vinyl sales “counts toward No.

BBC).The ERA’s 2024 Yearbook (published today, March 6), which contains statistics on the music, video and gaming sectors, also found that the UK music market was worth £2.2billion last year. 84 per cent of this was attributed to streaming subscriptions.The number of shops physically selling music, however – like supermarkets and specialist chains – fell from 10,391 to 2,486 in that period.The demand for vinyl records, meanwhile, continued to increase for the 16th year in a row.

Taylor Swift, new figures have shown.New data from Billboard shows that 49.61million vinyl records were sold in the States last year, of which Swift accounted for a huge 3.484million of those, or 7 per cent.The new numbers come after it was revealed that one in every 78 song streams in the US last year was also a Taylor Swift track.In results from the BPI in the UK, female musicians were shown to have dominated the best-selling albums and singles over the past 12 months, however, concerns were raised about new talent finding it harder to emerge on the charts.Elsewhere, Swift’s concert film The Eras Tour has officially become the highest-grossing concert movie of all time – overtaking Michael Jackson‘s This Is It with an overall global taking of $261.6million (£206m) – and a course on Taylor Swift at Harvard University has proved so popular that the institution is seeking more teaching assistants to help deliver it.Matthew Vaughn, the director of upcoming spy action comedy movie, Argylle, has also had to deny the theory that Taylor Swift is responsible for the book on which the movie is based.On January 9, a novel titled Argylle was released, written by a pseudonymous author going by the name Elly Conway. The book involves a spy novelist who gets roped into the world of espionage, assassins and feuds, all accompanied by her cat, Alfie.Some fans of Swift have been theorising that the mysterious novel was written by the US singer.

Enter Shikari, Napalm Death and Carcass are set to be re-released as eco-friendly ‘Greenyl’ vinyl records.Record shop Rude Cares has teamed up with Greenyl to release the album as part of a new Be The Change initiative, for which the LPs will be made at the first eco-friendly vinyl plant.Enter Shikari’s ‘Common Dreads’, Napalm Death’s ‘Harmony Corruption’ and Carcass’ ‘Heartwork’ will be printed on PVC-free Greenyl, made from 99 per cent recycled plastic compound which has zero emissions during the production process.Other bands taking part include The Dangerous Summer, Less Than Jake, Chiodos, Polyphia, Sydney Sprague and Graphic Nature. You can find release dates and links to pre-order here.We're thrilled to present 'Common Dreads' by @ENTERSHIKARI – an Emerald Green & Black Nebula @greenylrecords LP.

Music Week reported that the Official Charts Company recorded a 51 per cent increase in vinyl sales on National Album Day compared to the previous week.Nearly half of the 40 best-selling vinyl albums over the last weekend were releases exclusive to National Album Day, such as Blur‘s ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’, Jeff Buckley‘s ‘Grace’, and Paul Weller‘s ‘Wild Wood’.There were over 40 classic albums that were released or reissued in limited editions, including Tricky‘s ‘Maxinquaye‘, The Cranberries‘ ‘Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?’ and Fatboy Slim‘s ‘You’ve Come A Long Way Baby‘.A spokesperson for National Album Day said: “From Britpop and Girl Power to ground-breaking trends in genres such as dance, rock, rap and hip hop, the 1990s was an exceptional era for music, so it’s fantastic that this year’s National Album Day has enabled fans to reconnect with some of their favourite albums from the decade or make new discoveries. The popularity of the theme is underlined by the uplift in vinyl sales thanks to the incredible array of classic albums that were re-issued or appeared for the first time on the beloved format.”“Coupled with this was activity around the event to celebrate the art of the album, including with our partners Bowers & Wilkins and BBC Sounds.

The Guardian reported that one British indie label said one of its biggest acts missed a Top 20 chart position. Additionally, stock for a September release was “temporarily unable to be located”, meaning nine months of work and thousands of pounds were wasted.“It put a crack through the middle of the campaign.

MusicWeek) and highlighted that from the beginning of the year until the end of September, 3,952,262 vinyl LPs were sold – approximately a 13.2 per cent increase since 2022.According to the report, this increase was even bigger for the three months of the Q3 period, which saw 1,237,620 records sold in the vinyl format; a figure which is 15.1 per cent higher than the previous year.So far, artists majorly responsible for the resurgence of vinyl sales include Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, Blur and Kylie Minogue – all of which have released new LPs since the start of the year.So far, Lana Del Rey’s ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ remains the biggest vinyl release of the year – with 33,568 copies sold on the format since its release in March. This is followed by Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’, which was the biggest-selling vinyl release of Q3, with 29,649 sales.In third place is Britpop icons Blur, whose ninth studio album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ has sold 26,894 copies, and Kylie Minogue’s ‘Tension’ isn’t too far behind, with 19,160 copies sold since its release last month.Other albums paving the way in vinyl sales include Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts’, Wham!’s ‘The Singles: Echoes From The Edge Of Heaven’ and Lewis Capaldi‘s ‘Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent’.What’s more, this figure is expected to rise significantly for the remainder of 2023, with albums from Take That (‘This Life’) and Taylor Swift (‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’) still set for release.

vinyl record shop in Teesside is set to close following the death of its owner.Sound It Out has been under the ownership of Tom Butchart since 1998, but the owner passed away in June, and the shop will now close at the end of the month.In a post on Facebook, Butchart’s wife Clare said of the closure: “It has not been an easy decision. The shop was Tom’s baby and his passion of which I am and always will be immensely proud.“Sound It Out Records died with Tom that day.

Resident Advisor, the Harveys said of Seabass: “We’re artist-centric with an emphasis on quality and sustainability.“We offer fair prices, short production runs and optimised production lead times. Our ambition is to become a valuable partner to artists and the music industry in general, as well as our local community.“We’ve recently been announced as a partner of the Scottish Album of the Year award and will be pressing the records for the winner of the Sound of Young Scotland award free of charge.”The pressing plant are taking orders from September and you can find out more here.A post shared by Seabass Vinyl (@seabassvinyl)Back in 2021, figures from the music industry spoke to NME about what’s causing the delays in manufacturing vinyl and artists getting their albums made.Reports emerged of a crisis facing vinyl-lovers, with sources telling Variety that more than 500,000 copies of Adele’s album ’30’ had been pressed – causing a huge backlog and problems in the production line for others wishing to get LPs manufactured with the world’s limited resources.As even Ed Sheeran told Australian radio hosts Kyle and Jackie O about getting his recent album ‘=’ pressed: “So you have to do it like really upfront — and Adele had basically booked out all the vinyl factories, so we had to get a slot and get our album in there.

video on TikTok, which has garnered 4.1 million views and 464,400 likes.Turns out, a small batch of the vinyl LPs were “incorrectly pressed.” Fans who’d purchased the duds got quite the scare when they heard British electronica rather than the hits of the 33-year-old singer-songwriter.And, in a darker twist, lyrics about “flakes of flesh” and “endless rows of sardines” accompanied the music.“At first, I thought maybe the vinyl had a secret message from Taylor. But when I flipped to the B-side, it started saying ‘There’s 70 billion people on earth, where are they hiding?’ I started to get a little scared,” TikToker Rachel Hunter — @mischief_marauder on TikTok — told the BBC.

statement posted to their social media on Wednesday (July 5), which came after “countless hours of internal deliberation”.It is due to close down on July 31, with management citing a number of contributing factors including the impact of Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis.“It is with a heavy heart that we must share some difficult news with you all,” the statement began.Thank you for being part of our incredible journey. pic.twitter.com/N6mqcANrrv— Unearthed Sounds (@unearthedsounds) July 5, 2023“This has been an incredibly challenging decision to make, one that has not been taken lightly.

Kamala Harris showed off her new vinyl records earlier this week and shared some of her favourite artists.The politician had been shopping in Home Rule Records in Washington, D.C.

Tapehead City — noticed that Urban Outfitters had devoted a section to cassettes and their players, he knew that a new generation was getting into the Walkman groove. “The younger kids are getting into cassettes for sure,” Kaplan, 41, told The Post. “Especially with these bigger pop artists like Taylor Swift selling crazy amounts of tapes.

vinyl record that’s also a guitar pedal.The gadget is the creation of Indianapolis-based rock band Brother O Brother, who teamed up with Romanus Records and Audio Disruption Devices to release their new album ‘Skin Walker’ on a special vinyl release for the album.The limited edition will feature what are reported to be the thickest vinyl records ever made as part of a 2LP set on which the vinyl also serves as a guitar pedal.Both LPs in the set have different functions, with one for delay and one for boost. The controls for the pedal are located in the centre of the vinyl records, which can be played on turntables.In a video explainer, Romanus Records walk fans through the new creation, and explain in the description: “One overdrive boost, and one delay pedal.

Vinyl is the UK’s second best selling physical entertainment format in 2022, according to new research.Only Nintendo Switch games are ahead of vinyl in terms of sales so far this year, despite being down 12.5 per cent year-on-year while record sales are up 12.2 per cent, figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association show.According to ERA, vinyl has generated £80.9million in sales so far in 2022, up from £72.1million this time last year.The format is also outselling Playstation games, which saw a 6.5 per cent year-on-year rise and CDs which are down 8.1 per cent.“Vinyl’s rise and rise seems unstoppable,” said ERA CEO Kim Bayley. “For a 74-year-old analogue format to eclipse the digital-age technology of games platforms is quite extraordinary.

vinyl collecting capital of the UK, according to a new study.Up to 32 per cent of the UK’s vinyl collectors live in the Scottish city, The Royal Mint found via DJ Mag.The study also discovered that Glasgow was followed closely by the North East of England in boasting the most record collectors in the nation, with 25 per cent of vinyl collectors living there.It comes after vinyl record sales in 2021 were at the highest they’ve been in 30 years, despite widely publicised issues with backlogs and delays.According to figures from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), more than five million vinyl records were sold last year, an 8 per cent increase on 2020. It marked the 14th year in a row that the format has increased sales, with vinyl records making up 23 per cent of all albums sold.The biggest-selling vinyl album of 2021 was ABBA‘s comeback record ‘Voyage’, while Adele‘s huge ’30’ and Sam Fender‘s ‘Seventeen Going Under’ – NME’s Album Of The Year – also sold big on wax.Campaigns such as LoveRecordStores, Record Store Day and National Album Day also helped rally sales for independent record shops and specialist chains.Earlier this year, it was also reported that vinyl sales in the UK look set to overtake CDs.Vinyl albums brought in £135.6million in 2021 (up 23.2 per cent year-on-year) compared to £150.1million in CD sales (down 3.9 per cent year-on-year).

Harry Styles has reached a new milestone, thanks to his loyal, impassioned fanbase. Variety reports that Styles' latest album Harry's House set the record for the most vinyl sales in a week in the U.S., selling more than 146,000 copies within three days of its release.

vinyl industry,” VMP chief executive officer Cameron Schaefer said. “With this in mind, we’ve decided to press records in a way that provides an incredible experience for our customers and visitors to our plant.”A post shared by VMP (@vinylmeplease)Development of the new experiential space, which will allow fans to see how records are made first-hand, and includes a bar, listening room, and retail area, has been overseen by record-maker Gary Salstrom.“I’m thrilled to have the resources and partners required to make the best vinyl LPs ever produced, in a place where the experience will be as special as the finished goods,” Salstrom said.Artist, producer, and Acony Records co-founder David Rawlings has also joined the project as partner and chief groove officer.“It’s a dream to work with Gary refining and innovating to press the finest records possible,” Rawlings said.

Jack White has shared a video and written an open letter to major record labels, urging them to build their own vinyl pressing plants.The White Stripes frontman owns the Nashville-based Third Man Records, who have their own pressing plant and opened a new London store last year. His letter comes after the vinyl industry has experienced huge delays due to COVID, meaning many smaller artists have been forced to delay album releases due to wait times at pressing plants.“At least once a week, without fail, someone will reach out asking me to help expedite their vinyl record manufacturing,” White’s message began.

The Times reports, the 69-year-old Roberto Vivaldi fled Italy in the 1990s after being convicted of money laundering and fraudulent bankruptcy had been living under a fake name. The prolific fraudster had also decided to pivot careers and had been running a vintage record shop on the island of Isla de Margarita in Venezuela.

vinyl records than millennials.According to a survey conducted by MRC Data, 4,041 people aged 13 and over were questioned over the course of two weeks about their musical influences, inspirations and purchases, with 15 per cent of Generation Z respondents – people commonly identified as being born roughly between 1997 and 2012 – claiming to have purchased vinyl albums in the previous 12 months.This compared with only 11 per cent of millennials who said that they purchased vinyl over the last

vinyl records will continue.The supermarket giant said that the huge popularity and customer preference for the streaming market had influenced the decision.“Our customers increasingly go online for entertainment, so earlier this year we took the decision to gradually phase out the sale of DVDs and CDs, so that we can dedicate extra space to food and popular products like clothing and homewares,” a spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said (via BBC News).Vinyl will, however, continue to be stocked in

according to Billboard.It sold more than 40,000 copies just three days after its May 28 release — already surpassing the biggest single-week sales record since MRC Data began tracking in 1991.The title had previously been held by Jack White’s “Lazaretto,” which sold 40,000 copies in the week after it launched in June 2014.It’s likely sales of “Evermore,” Swift’s ninth studio album, will continue to soar through the end of the tracking week on Thursday.The 31-year-old singer’s chartbusting comes

coronavirus-enforced restrictions have been lifted.Non-essential businesses in England can reopen today as part of the third phase of easing lockdown restrictions, which came into force on January 6.

The company’s website is currently hosting a countdown to what appears to be the official launch of the business in 49 days’ time (May 28).The venture marks the opening of the first-ever vinyl record manufacturing plant in the north of England, and is being spearheaded by Press On Vinyl Production’s Teesside-based founding directors Danny Lowe, David Todd and David Hyne.

The British Phonographic Industry has projected that 157,000 tapes will have been sold in the UK by the end of 2020, despite two national coronavirus lockdowns.That’s the highest number since 2003, when compilation ‘Now 54’ – featuring the likes of Oasis, Girls Aloud and Busted – was the biggest seller on tape.The best selling cassettes of 2020 were occupied by Lady Gaga‘s ‘Chromatica’, 5 Seconds of Summer‘s ‘CALM’, Yungblud‘s second album ‘Weird’ and the The 1975‘s ‘Notes On A Conditional

vinyl records in the UK this year are the highest since the early ’90s, new data has revealed.End-of-year figures released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) show that sales have soared despite two national coronavirus lockdowns, with vinyl sales growing for the 13th year running.The new figures reveal that nearly one in five (18%) of all albums purchased across 2020 were vinyl, with 4.8 million LPs being purchased.

vinyl records in history in a single week.The pre-Christmas rush saw nearly 2 million LPs sold across the country.As Billboard reports, 1.842 million vinyl LPs were purchased in the US in the week leading up to Christmas, which ended on December 24.It broke the record set just one week before (December 10-17), where 1.445 million were sold.

coronavirus pandemic, sales of vinyl have gone up almost 10% this year, which puts it on track to break the £100 million mark by the end of 2020, making for the best year since 1990.Sales by volume are also set to beat last year’s 4.3 million figure, which is remarkable given the fact that the physical music market took a dip by almost half in March when the first nationwide lockdown forced high street retailers to close.The first signs of this year’s soaring vinyl sales came when record stores

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), vinyls contributed a staggering $232 million (£181 million) to total physical sales of $376 million in the first half of 2020.While the coronavirus pandemic saw music sales being slightly impacted by the closure of record stores and venues, the music industry still experienced a degree of growth in Q1/Q2.The report also reveals that the revenue generated from digital downloads ($351 million) and physical sales ($376 million) dropped below the

The destruction of the Apollo Masters plant "will present a problem for the vinyl industry worldwide"