POZ Perspective: Why Your Vinyl Is Not At Your Doorstep (Part I)

PropertyofZack is beyond thrilled to be taking the wraps off of our new editorial section today! Over the years we’ve been happy to provide you with the best news and original content we’ve had to offer, and Perspective is an outlet for us to dig a little deeper into the issues that affect our music scene. Perspective will enable us to provide you with quality you expect and the insight you deserve.

Ever wonder why your vinyl pre-orders don’t arrive on time? And why those delays only get further delayed? In our first Perspective, Editor in Chief Erik van Rheenen tackles those questions and more. In part one of our two part feature, PropertyOfZack reached out to top vinyl outlets such as Triple Crown, Topshelf, Paper + Plastick, Shop Radio Cast, American Dream, Animal Style to get to the bottom of Why Your Vinyl Is Not At Your Doorstep.

Even when stuck in traffic on a bustling Wednesday afternoon, Fred Feldman can’t help but laugh when the subject of vinyl delays comes up.

“My favorite subject,” the founder of Triple Crown Records says with an almost involuntary chuckle.

Fans know the feeling. Feldman knows the feeling. Heck, most label managers know the feeling. From albums getting pushed back a day or two to the now infamous elusive Mightier Than Sword RecordsTake Off Your Pants And Jacket pressing, vinyl delays have become a footnote in the recent renaissance of the format.

“Vinyl has exploded, and there’s not a lot of new pressing plants setting up shop,” explains Feldman. “We’re really at the mercy of the plants.”

Feldman loves vinyl. The renaissance of artwork the format spearheaded. The warmth that comes from having to sit down and pay attention while a record spins on a turntable. The intricacies of sound.

But manufacturing vinyl, he says, is a big investment. The risk/reward variable is tantamount. Triple Crown tries to battle delays by ensuring parts and masters arrive to the plant on time.

“Once you get a test pressing back, there’s no guarantee it will work,” he says. “Sometimes you have to tweak it two or three times to get the best master possible.”

Thomas Nassiff, label manager for Paper + Plastick Records, half-jokingly considers himself an expert on the topic.

“We’ve had at least a partial vinyl delay for almost every release,” he says. “In an ideal world, we’d be able to control everything and prevent that.”

Nassiff is a vinyl collector. He’s only been working at P+P for the last two years, but he’s grasped the feeling from both sides of the coin, as a fan and, in the past year, as label manager.

“I hate waiting for records myself,” he said. “Our Flatfoot 56 record has been delayed since its release date in July, and I’m still waiting for my copy. The second we get records in, we put everything on hold and get it out to people who preordered.”

Paper + Plastick tinkers with creative packaging, but Nassiff refuses to make excuses for releasing albums on “some crazy color” causing delays. Some, if not most, problems are out of the label’s hands: when Paper + Plastick pressed Anthony Raneri’s EP, New Cathedrals, with coffee grounds, the plant sent 100 fewer records than expected.

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