“The Tortured Poets Department” is set to be released in special-edition “ghost”-colored vinyl, available both directly through Swift’s website and exclusively at Target.
During the pandemic, that might have alarmed vinyl record buyers. As vinyl plants shuttered and employees were sidelined, vinyl production ground to a halt, causing reports of weeks-long backlogs and orders going unfulfilled outright.
But in an interview with NBC News Friday, Dustin Blocker, president of the Vinyl Records Manufacturing Association, said those issues have been resolved and that suppliers now have more than enough capacity to handle any orders coming their way, including massive ones like Swift’s.
“In Q3 2023, we saw the [production] timeline start to go back to normal,” Blocker said. “And in Q4 it really got back to normal. Now, everyone including the huge plants, takes only 8-12 weeks [to produce]…so it’s very good news for everyone.”
Blocker said any price increases on the supply side sparked by the bottlenecks have essentially reversed.
So, the $40 price tag on the Target edition of “TPD” is most likely the result of choices made by Swift, her label and the retailer, he said.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
