Some people like to hold a nice package in their hand. "The world has too much digital information filling it up. "It's the only example I know of a product all but dying only to return," enthused Pelc. Though still a drop in the ocean compared with streaming, US vinyl sales topped 22 million in 2020. While the company also produces CDs, DVDs and has a large printing operation, it's the vinyl division that gets all the attention amid a stunning revival, as fans of rock and pop have developed a fresh taste for the aural, visual and tactile pleasures of the LP.ĭuring vinyl's 1990s nadir, just 1 million albums were sold in the United States - the globe's biggest market by far - according to the Recording Industry Association of America. "Nothing will ever beat the rich, natural sound of a vinyl record!" declares the GZ Media website. This leaves 71-year-old Pelc - who, since "stepping back" from running the day-to-day operations is only in the office for four days a week - and CEO Sterba not just navigating vinyl's boom but also the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, populism, and war. History did not end in the 1990s after all: but that cuts both ways. It hopes by 2024 to be turning out 140 million. Last year, GZ Media pressed 56.5 million records by the likes of The Rolling Stones, Nat King Cole, Black Sabbath, and Ariana Grande. The vinyl revival has driven an expansion that, aside from the sprawling site in Lodenice, sees the company operating six plants in four different countries. GZ Media owner Zdenek Pelc (left) and Chief Executive Michal Sterba are seeing a dream come true with the revival of the vinyl record "Now we turn out the same amount in one day," said CEO Michal Sterba. By 1994 the company was producing just 350,000 records annually, the vinyl presses running mainly just for punk and metal bands seeking cheap production and tiny batches. The decade witnessed the birth of the Czech Republic out of the ruins of former communist Czechoslovakia, but also the near death of vinyl.Īs the arrival of CDs all but throttled the older technology, GZ Media's vinyl presses ground nearly to a halt. He smiled as he remembered steering the privatized company through the unruly 1990s. "It was like the Wild West at times," said Pelc, who joined state enterprise Gramofonove Zavody as a manager in 1983. The vinyl revival of recent years has driven GZ Media to heights that owner and President Zdenek Pelc could barely have imagined as he steered the company through the tumultuous days of communism, revolution, and transition to a capitalist system. But the small Czech village, peering over the motorway linking the capital Prague with Germany, is home to the biggest vinyl record producer in the world. Lodenice doesn't look very much like the heart of rock 'n' roll.
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