APOLLO MASTERS FIRE COULD CRIPPLE VINYL INDUSTRY

A fire on 2/6 destroyed Apollo Masters, which supplied much of the lacquer for the master discs used to make vinyl records. Fortunately, no one was injured in the blaze at the Banning, Calif.-based manufacturing and storage facility, but the loss of Apollo could seriously impact the vinyl business, at least in the short run.

“We are uncertain of our future at this point and are evaluating options as we try to work through this difficult time,” reads a note on the company website.

The Desert Sun broke the news of the fire, and Pitchfork expanded on its potential implications for the industry.

“From my understanding, this fire will present a problem for the vinyl industry worldwide,” Third Man Records co-founder Ben Blackwell told Pitchfork in an email. “There are only TWO companies that make lacquers in the world, and the other, MDC in Japan, already had trouble keeping up with demand BEFORE this development.”

Blackwell added that there have been “whispers” of another company “entertaining the idea” of entering the lacquer marketplace, but that Apollo was also the “primary or possibly only supplier of the styli” that are used in the vinyl-pressing process. “I imagine this will affect EVERYONE, not just Third Man Pressing and Third Man Mastering, but to what extent remains to be seen.

“I don’t want to be an alarmist,” he continued. “But I’m attempting to be realistic as opposed to Pollyannish.”

David Read, a vinyl production and sales coordinator at Toronto-based Duplication, explained to Pitchfork that the fire “will directly affect all vinyl plants, bands/labels, mastering engineers, plating facilities etc., anyone who used lacquers as part of their vinyl production.”

On the other hand, Read said, “In my almost 40 years’ experience, the vinyl industry as a whole is incredibly resilient and filled with talented professionals who will, and already are, teaming together to find a way out of this current problem.”