Catastrophic fire leaves Apollo Masters’ vinyl manufacturing facility “uncertain of future”
The lacquer pressing company was one of only two in the world and was by far the biggest manufacturer.
Image: Analog Planet
“To all our wonderful customers. It is with great sadness we report the Apollo Masters manufacturing and storage facility had a devastating fire and suffered catastrophic damage”, a message reads on the homepage of the Apollo Masters website. The larger of the only two lacquer manufacturing plants in the world, Apollo Masters was a company that vinyl record pressers relied on to create their product.
The fire broke reportedly broke out at around 8 am on 6 February, and caused significant damage to the facility. So much so, that the company states it is “uncertain of our future at this point and are evaluating options as we try to work through this difficult time”.
Thankfully, the fire caused no injury to any customers, employees or the 82 firefighters tackling the blaze. Although the fire was contained within a few hours, the damage it caused means there is very little left of Apollo Masters. The only other lacquer production company for vinyl is MDC in Japan, although it’s not currently taking on potential customers.
It is unclear how record labels, both major and independent, will deal with the loss of Apollo Masters.
For more music tech news, click here.
