Jack White calls upon major labels to build their own vinyl record pressing plants

Jack White is a real all-rounder. He not only makes music, but also owns his own record label and his own vinyl record pressing plant, amongst other things. The pressing plant, Third Man Pressing, has “always been open to anyone and everyone who walks in the door and wants to press a record, from bedroom hip hop artists to field recording documentarians”, according to Jack White.

Despite things going great for his own pressing plant, the former half of The White Stripes sees an urgent need for action on the part of the three global major labels Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music, turning to them with a 1-minute plea to build their own pressing plants. You can check out the clip below:

In a written statement on the website of his record company Third Man Records, Jack White goes into detail and explains, amongst other things, why it is not a long-term solution to only think about the success of his own pressing plant which he opened in 2017:

“There are people who will say – isn’t this good for Third Man? More demand than you can handle? To which I say, even though Third Man benefits in the short term, in the long term it ultimately hurts everyone involved in the vinyl ecosystem given the bottlenecks and delays. Something needs to be done.”

– Jack White

Jack White states that he has done “everything within my power to help”:

“At least once a week, without fail, someone will reach out asking me to help expedite their vinyl record manufacturing. It’s a natural thought… knowing that I own a pressing plant and have my own record label, ‘if anyone could help, it’s this guy!'”

– Jack White

The band member of The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather goes on to say:

“[…] in the last year, I’ve doubled down and invested in even more record presses, more employees to run them, and more shifts to try and accommodate the insane growing demand for vinyl product.”

– Jack White

In view of the current supply chain issues and manufacturing bottlenecks, Jack White sees far-reaching consequences for the music industry if the major labels do not come to the rescue:

“With industry-wide turnaround times for vinyl currently leaning towards the length of a human pregnancy, it’s obvious, in a world so contingent on being of-the-moment and timed just right (a single, an album, a tour etc.), these timelines are the killers of momentum, soul, artistic expression, and far too often, livelihoods.”

– Jack White

Jack White, whose new solo album “Fear Of The Dawn” will be released on 8 April 2022 via Third Man Records, ends his statement with words that make clear that, within the music business, everyone is in the same boat:

“To be clear, the issue is not big labels versus small labels, it’s not independent versus mainstream, it’s not even punk versus pop. The issue is, simply, we have ALL created an environment where the unprecedented demand for vinyl records cannot keep up with the rudimentary supply of them. […] 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.”

– Jack White