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Metallica Is Selling so Many Vinyl Records It Bought Its Own Factory:
Despite technology bringing new recording media formats and improved compression algorithms, there is certainly a growing demand for vinyl again despite its death being announced several times over recent decades.
Metallica has bought a majority stake in Furnace Record Pressing, one of the biggest and most important vinyl records companies in the U.S. If anyone had any doubts about the growth of the vinyl sales, which last year outpaced CD sales for the first time since 1987, Metallica's new purchase just gave them a very loud reminder that what's old is new again.
Vinyl records are experiencing a renaissance among music lovers. Although Metallica hasn't released a new album since Hardwired...To Self-Destruct in 2016, it sold more than 387,000 vinyl albums in 2022, according to data from Billboard. That year, it ranked sixth on the list of most albums sold in the U.S., topping the 337,000 albums it sold in 2021. The price Metallica paid for Furnace was not disclosed; members of the band will now sit on Furnace's board.
Metallica is expected to release its first album in seven years sometime over the next few weeks, setting the stage for the band to sell to many, many more vinyl records in 2023.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday March 22 2023, @08:20PM
Thank you. I pretty much know all that, but thank you again. Re. 16 vs. 24, absolutely agree if you're covering the bits. 16 bits gives 96 dB dynamic range- which is probably more than the human ear can hear, without damage anyway, and I doubt any speaker system could do that. It's more that recording engineers / mixers / mastering likes to use all 16 bits, and they (sometimes we) use a mastering limiter to push in the audio, and of course, you're squashing the dynamic range. Again, I've often done, and thought about a more advanced system where you'd use a non-linear compression- kind of like a limiter, but much gentler "knee" at the top. It's fun, for me, and I'm always learning.