According to industry association Ifpi, vinyl sales in Sweden have increased by 77 percent over the past five years and have surpassed CD sales.
But when more and more people want to produce vinyl records, the production is difficult to keep up with.
For smaller record companies, the delays can have major consequences and affect both the release date and future planning.
- A colleague of mine called around to fifteen press series in Europe and got the same answer: nine months delivery times.
When you have survived a pandemic and waited for everything to start, and once you have started the plans again, it stagnates because you can not get the vinyls delivered on time, says Magnus Bjerkert, record company director at Adrian Recordings .
Several reasons behind the vinyl shortage
The delays are said to be due to the growing demand, but also to the lack of machines which in turn create long queues at the vinyl presses.
- We had an album that should have come out in August, but which is now expected to be released in December and there is always this uncertainty about things coming on time, says Axel Franzén, record company director at Rama Lama Records.
According to him, the increased interest in vinyl records may have to do with the fact that it is a physical product in a digital age and that it has also become a way to support smaller bands.
"The vinyl craze will stop"
What the consequences of the vinyl shortage may be is still unclear, but it is clear that it will affect the market.
- It could have the consequence that vinyl production and vinyl craze will stop as it will not be possible to do it in any good way, says Magnus Bjerkert.