2017 Blog

7th August 2018

Key Production at Making Vinyl Conference 2018

On the 1st of October, our MD Karen Emanuel will be attending the annual Making Vinyl conference in Detroit, Michigan.  An event aimed to celebrate the vinyl revival as physical media’s last hope in the digital music age. The Making Vinyl is the first B2B conference dedicated to the rebirth of the global vinyl manufacturing business. The attendees will include representatives from the world’s leading pressing manufacturers, equipment suppliers, record labels, packager's and stereo makers. 

The Importance of Women in Vinyl

This year, Karen will be participating in the Women in Vinyl panel discussion alongside Carrie Colliton, Record Store Day (retail); Jessa Zapor-Gray, Intervention Records (label); Karen Emanuel, Key Production (packaging firm owner); Ali Miller, Furnace Mfg. (pressing plant VP); Caren Kelleher, Gold Dust Vinyl (pressing plant owner); Lori Hines, Welcome to 1979 (mastering engineer). Karen knows first hand what it’s like to be a woman in the male-dominated music manufacturing business.

"When I first started Key Production, people would ask me for my boss when they spoke to me, assuming it was a “he.” Initially, I gained a reputation for being difficult and “hard” as I felt that this was the only way to be taken seriously. Then and now there are woefully few women leading businesses in this industry. I studied genetics at the University of Leeds, where I booked bands as a student. I was the first woman to have lasted a year doing so, and the first person to make money from it. I never studied business, but I used to love maths. I found that I am very logical and organized: skills that are essential to both manufacturing and running a business" - Making It in the Male-dominated Music Business interview with Larry Jaffee

Last year, the conference featured a number of talks with music manufacturing experts and personalities involved in the business like Jack White, co-founder of Record Store Day Michael Kurtz, co-founder of Third Man Pressing Ben Blackwell, CEO Memphis Record Pressing Brandon Seavers and many more. 

A few main topics on the agenda that will be discussed at this year's event will be:

  • Record Store Day 11 year history
  • The birth of new Vinyl plants undertaking the task in the digital arena
  • The growth of the Vinyl format by industry standard Nielsen’s SoundScan
  • The Importance of Packaging and its influence on consumers.  
  • The Introduction of HD Vinyl

We're happy to be participating in this event consecutively for another year.  We hope you can join us in Detroit as this will be an informative occasion to hear industry stats and opinions from professionals like us on where vinyl manufacturing is currently situated, its future and how we can all collaborate to offer the best services to artists and record labels.

Making Vinyl Packaging Awards

The ‘Making Vinyl Packaging Awards’ recognizes the importance and critical role that physical packaging plays in selling music. The larger 12-in x 12-inch canvas no doubt is contributing to the vinyl format’s astounding comeback. In the age of MP3, downloads and digital streaming, recorded music experiences diminish substantially. There’s nothing like a well-designed LP cover or a graphics-rich gatefold for a sensory connection to the sounds emanating from the speakers or headphones.

For the second consecutive year, Making Vinyl will host a competition recognizing the best in vinyl packaging. This year there are five new categories (including 2 for CDs) under consideration, and the submissions process is entirely online and requires hi-res photographs of all entries, which will be reviewed by a panel of award-winning judges. Unlike in 2017, only the finalists in each category will be asked to submit physical copies of the actual albums, which will be further examined by the judging panel.

Official Website: https://makingvinyl.com/

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