Music
Metallica have purchased a majority stake in Furnace Record Pressing.
The band have a long association with the pressing plant, who oversaw the deluxe box set re-issues of such classic Metallic albums as ‘Kill ‘Em All’, ‘Ride The Lightning’, ‘Master Of Puppets’ and beyond. Indeed, the thrash overlords are such big fans of their work that they’ve decided to invest, becoming majority stakeholders.
Furnace Record Pressing was founded in 1996 by Eric Astor, and has become known for its high quality work. The Alexandria, Virginia site hosts 12 Pheenix Alpha presses and two Finebilt presses, making it one of the largest pressing companies in the United State.
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Metallica will now be majority partners, but Eric Astor (Founder and CEO), Ali Miller (COO) and Mark Reiter (VP – Operations) will continue in their respective roles leading Furnace – each remains an equity owner of the company, and each will be a member of the company’s Board of Directors.
“Building Furnace into the dedicated and experienced family of experts that it is today has been a huge effort, but immensely gratifying,” said Eric Astor, founder of Furnace. “Knowing our long-term future is secured while also being better able to take advantage of growth opportunities is really exciting for every member of the Furnace staff.”
Ali Miller, Chief Operating Officer of Furnace, added: “We have found ideal partners in Metallica. They want us to continue our customer driven focus. To that end we look forward to providing even greater capacity and service to each of our customers in the future.”
For their part, Metallica seem overjoyed to be directly involved in vinyl production.
“We couldn’t be more happy to take our partnership with Furnace — and Eric, Ali and Mark specifically — to the next level,” said Lars Ulrich, co-founder of Metallica. “Their indie spirit, the passion they have for their craft… culturally we’re kindred souls.”
James Hetfield, co-founder of Metallica, added: “Furnace has been great to Metallica and more importantly to our fans. This deepened relationship between Metallica and Furnace ensures that fans of vinyl everywhere, particularly our Fifth Members, will have continued access to high quality records in the future.”
