One of the only factories producing `` record raw materials '' in the world burned down by fire, affecting the record industry

On February 6, 2020, a California factory was burned down in a fire. The plant is for the only two producers of 'record raw materials' in the world, and it has been reported that fire burns could have a significant impact on the record industry worldwide.

Banning building fire blocks Highway 243 south of Interstate 10
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/fires/2020/02/06/banning-building-fire-blocks-highway-243-south-interstate-10/4678543002/

“Devastating” Manufacturing Plant Fire Threatens Worldwide Vinyl Record Supply | Pitchfork
https://pitchfork.com/news/devastating-manufacturing-plant-fire-threatens-worldwide-vinyl-record-supply/

Records are made by pressing a resin disk made mainly of vinyl chloride with a mold with grooves. This mold is made based on the groove in the “lacquer board”, which is a lacquer resin applied to an aluminum plate, and only two companies in the world manufacture lacquer boards. One of them was the Apollo Masters factory in Banning, California.

You can see how to make a master by engraving grooves on the lacquer board in the following movie.

Vinyl Lacquer cut for 'Middle Name Dance Tracks Vol 1' at The Exchange Vinyl, London-YouTube


Multiple explosions were reported at such Apollo Masters factory on February 6, 2020, 82 firefighters rushed to fight fire, but 15,000 square feet (about 1400 square meters) of factory burned down It has been done.

Apollo Masters said, 'To all the great customers. It is very sad to report that Apollo Masters' manufacturing and storage facilities have undergone a catastrophic fire and have been completely destroyed. All employees were safe The good news is that we can't say for the moment what we can say about the future, we are thinking about what we can do to get through this difficult time. '

`` As far as I know, this fire will cause problems for the record industry around the world, '' said Ben Blackwell, co-founder of Third Man Records, a record label in Detroit, Michigan. Only two companies make lacquer boards, only Apollo Masters and MDC in Japan, but I have heard that MDC is having a hard time keeping up with service demands. ' Since Apollo Masters had over 90% of the world's lacquer board share, it would be overcapacity for MDC plants to undertake production up to Apollo Masters.

`` According to my nearly 40 years of experience, the record industry has a lot of talented professionals who can solve this problem, and it's incredibly resilient, '' said David Reed, record coordinator. Optimistic. '