((PKG))  VINYL REVIVAL  
((VOA Ukrainian))  
((Banner:  Vinyl Revival)) 
((Reporter:  Alina Golinata)) 
((Camera:  Konstantin Golubchik))  
((Adapted by:  Zdenko Novacki)) 
((Map:  Alexandria, Virginia)) 
((Banner:  Vinyl records are now more popular than in 
decades, but still make less than 6% overall music sale)) 
((NATS)) 
((Eric Astor, Owner, Furnace Record Pressing))  
IÕve put everything I have into this to make it a success.  In 
about 2013, the business, the industry got so busy that we 
decided, you know, for us to stay relevant and service our 
customers the way we want to service them and the way 
they were requesting, was we needed to add pressing here, 
in the States.  So, that's when we started to look for new 
equipment.   
((NATS))   
((Eric Astor, Owner, Furnace Record Pressing))  
At the time, there was no one making new pressing 
equipment.  We sought out a company in Germany to help 
us manufacture high quality vinyl and we still work with them 
today.   
((NATS))   
((Eric Astor, Owner, Furnace Record Pressing))  
We got a call from a gentleman in Mexico City, who had a 
bunch of presses in a storage shed.  So, we said those are 
the same exact model, make and model of the ones that we 
use in Germany.  We know that they press very good 
records.  So, we brokered a deal to buy those from him.   
((NATS))   
((Eric Astor, Owner, Furnace Record Pressing)) 
The artists, for a long time, were told that they couldn't put 
out vinyl by the labels and, you know, they started to 
demand it.  So, you know, when the artists are driving the 
format, that helps quite a bit as well.  
((NATS))   
((Eric Astor, Owner, Furnace Record Pressing))  
It's collectable.  There's a kind of, itÕs little bit more special.  
You have larger graphics, you know.  So, you can actually 
see what the artist is intending you to see and feel when you 
look at a record.  So, you have your graphics.  You have 
your liner notes.  ItÕs collectable.  Some people collect 
different colors of vinyl.  
((NATS))  
((Mark Reiter, Director of Manufacturing Operations, 
Furnace Record Pressing)) 
It's very easy and is very easy to put digital music on and 
walk away from it to do something else.  So, in some way, it 
doesn't beg for attention, and in that way, it becomes, for 
me, a little less special.  A record requires you to be in the 
same room with it.  You're tending to it.  You have to flip it 
over.  You can't just let it spin off, you know.  So, it's a more, 
sort of, visceral, almost personal experience.  
((NATS))   
((Eric Astor, Owner, Furnace Record Pressing))  
ItÕs a great time to be a music fan, you know.  ThereÕs so 
many avenues to buy music and, I think, vinyl is the value 
add to all that.  ItÕs just better experience, better sound.
     ((NATS))