Major labels should 'build their own pressing plants', says Jack White

Jack White has called on major labels such as Sony, Warner and Universal to build their own pressing plant for vinyl releases. The comments come as a large amount of the backlog causing delays for independent artists and labels is caused by legacy reprints from major labels as well as an increase in pressing for their biggest artists such as Adele, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. 

He made the comments in a video posted on his Facebook page on March 14th, explaining that “a small punk band can’t get their record for eight to 10 months.” It’s a sentiment echoed by the electronic music community, who are also seeing backlogs of similar timeframes. 

In the video, White called on the majors to return to a time when they operated their own plants, to ease the backlog. “I ask the major record labels – Warner Brothers, Universal, and Sony – to finally build your own pressing plants again. As the MC5 once said, ‘you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution’.”

He concluded the video by saying: “We’re all on the same team with the same goals. I truly believe that with a good faith investment in the infrastructure that got us here, we can continue on this upward trajectory and further inspire the worlds around us. Now is the time. Thank you.”

Vinyl continues to boom in popularity, hitting its highest sales in three decades in 2021.

A Taiwanese pressing plant recently launched a potential solution to short-run vinyl by offering 25-100 units with a four to six week delivery time. Find out more about their new service here.