Tech start-up elasticStage has been backed by a raft of well-known music producers and executives. The closing of its latest seed round earlier this month takes the total raised to £3.5m.
The London-based business aims to become the world’s first on-demand vinyl manufacturer via its patent-pending processes. It has involved six years of development work.
Currently, conventional vinyl production can involve lead times of up to 12 months, the firm claimed.
The so-called vinyl revival has seen sales surge, with more than 5m vinyl albums bought in the UK last year according to the British Phonographic Industry – the highest figure in more than 30 years.
elasticStage plans to offer next-day turnaround times thanks to its combination of digital printing tech and a new way of pressing using an alternative material to PVC, with each record manufactured a “first-generation recording”.
It aims to launch its London-based production and fulfilment centre in Q4, with a selected number of artists, labels and Digital Service Providers (DSPs) given the opportunity to join trial runs.
Steve Rhodes, elasticStage CEO and co-founder commented: “We have built a revolutionary way to manufacture vinyl that will soon replace the current outdated, traditional method that uses harmful chemicals and a lot of energy, along with long lead times and unnecessary warehousing.
“We are already in talks with a major DSP for integrating our tech and we can’t wait to help the industry in meeting commercial demand for vinyl at speed.”
In a similar way that on-demand production has revolutionised book printing and supply chains for publishers, Rhodes said that music rightsholders would be able to “considerably increase the number of catalogue titles available” without the risk of stock holding, which would help them boost revenues.
“We have truly modernised the vinyl manufacturing process and are also perfectly situated for the growing number of creators, estimated to reach 50 million by 2025, that currently have no or little access to vinyl,” he added.
Rhodes told Printweek that the firm was keeping details of the printing technology being used under wraps for the time being.
The investors include producers Paul Epworth (Adele, Paul McCartney) and Dan Grech-Marguerat (Lana Del Rey, George Ezra, Tom Grennan), artist managers Ryan Walter (Lewis Capaldi), Tim Parry (co-founder of Big Life Management), Ed Millet (co-founder of TaP Music – Ellie Goulding, Dua Lipa, Lana Del Rey).
Epworth, who is an Oscar and Grammy winning record producer, writer and musician, described the sound of elasticStage’s vinyl as “a significant upgrade from the established 50-year-old manufacturing process” and said it was largely indistinguishable from the original master in blind tests.
