Fat Possum Records made a bold move when it decided to build its own vinyl pressing plant. The music industry is in shambles, but founder Matthew Johnson needed something to correct the backorder problem that multiple labels experience. So he partnered AudioGraphics Masterworks and decided to cut out the manufacturing middle man during a time when vinyl is in-demand, Billboard notes. The label represented Modest Mouse and The Black Keys previously and recently signed The Districts.
"I've had 3,000 Modest Mouse records stuck in customs that's cost me a lot of money at Christmas," Johnson explained. "I'm tired of all that shit. I hate this business. It's getting so bad. If I want to sit down, I feel like I have to cut a tree down, cut it into boards, make a chair — it's ridiculous. You used to not have to worry about manufacturing. Now you do."
Fat Possum's Memphis Record Pressing will be the 17th vinyl plant in the United States, joining notable facilities like United Record Pressing and Rainbo Records. According to Nielsen Music, vinyl sales are up 223 percent since 2008.
Memphis Record Pressing has nine presses that Johnson hopes will create a minimum of 7,000 LPs daily. The plant will also press records for other labels under the Sony RED Distribution company, which helped fund MRP after it went over its budget.
"I don't want to say our sh-t is perfect," he added, "but I think it's better than anyone else's."
Fat Possum is looking to have a big year in 2015. They shared plans for some reissues of early Modest Mouse records in September while the band recently announced its first album since 2007, a follow-up to We Were Dead Before the Sink Even Sank. The label also added The Districts to its stable of artists, and their debut, A Flourish and a Spoil, is set for a February release.
