DUBLIN VINYL going out of business ...

[Satrus]

A friend sent me a link from the Irish Independent newspaper a few days ago concerning the appointment of Liquidators to Dublin Vinyl which presses vinyl records here in Ireland. Here is a link to an article from the rte.ie website, https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2024/0 ... lin-vinyl/.

This a huge shame. Pressing plants that came on stream during the current vinyl era (as opposed to the original one) were in many cases poor enough in terms of the quality of their output. It seems that a whole new generation of press operators had to learn their craft on the job. GZ Vinyl (GZ Media) was a 'basket case' until about two years ago when it upped its quality control significantly. Some plants in the U.S.A. were just plain awful, URP in Nashville comes to mind. Dublin Vinyl, based on my experience, got a grip on Quality Control very early in its existence. I have never seen a plant, outside of Japan, that pressed consistently concentric spindle holes on flat vinyl with exceptionally quiet and perfect surfaces. In my estimation, it was the best plant in Europe, probably. The only competition it had was Optimal Media in Germany and perhaps Record Industry in the Netherlands. How it came to this, is a mystery to me? I mean if you're pressing vinyl for a top artist like Taylor Swift, surely you are on the way to being a significant player in the vinyl pressing business? I would love to know what the inside story is on the implosion of this business. We have been reading for at least a couple years now how vinyl pressing plants are 'backed up' all over the world. This situation with Dublin Vinyl goes contrary to that narrative. Plants were still pressing product during COVID, unless I am mistaken? I am very sad to learn of the demise of this plant.

[hudo]

I thought vinyl is in high demand these days... maybe they just couldn't scale the production to achieve lower prices?
Shame...

[Cyndale]

Thanks for making us aware of Dublin Vinyl, it is a sad day indeed!

[Adrian]

Very disappointed with this news. I’ll be honest I’ve no inside knowledge of the company but the article mentions numerous contributory factors which have put severe pressure on the business.

Energy costs in Ireland are very high, interest rates have rocketed (commercial rates probably even higher), and the non delivery of appliances which exacerbated things.

22 direct employees, that’s a lot of work, probably running 3 shifts of 6, 24/7?

Great pity to see it go!