Metallica Acquires Furnace Pressing—Yes, "That" Metallica

Alexandria, VA-based pressing plant has produced for the band 5 million+ records since 2014

One way to assure you don't have to wait for your records to be pressed is to buy a pressing plant. That's what the band Metallica just did, buying a majority interest in Alexandria, VA based Furnace Pressing from founder Eric Astor and his business partners.

Furnace's Exterior—Photo Taken During November, 2021 Visit

From the press release:

Founded by Eric Astor in 1996, Furnace is known for making extremely high-quality records at its 70,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in Alexandria, Virginia. With it’s 12 Pheenix Alpha presses and two Finebilt presses, Furnace is one of the largest record pressing companies in the U.S. Furnace offers standard and heavyweight pressings, color vinyl, special effect color vinyl, and custom vinyl etching to meet the creative needs of any music artist. Furnace also oversees other services related to the creation and packaging of records. In addition to Metallica, Furnace counts many major artists, global music companies, record labels and indie/punk acts as clients. 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.  

One Phoenix Alpha Press Line at Furnace, November 2021

“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.”

“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."

Metallica was represented by its affiliated growth equity and content investing platform known as Black Squirrel Partners ("Black Squirrel”), with Kirkland & Ellis acting as counsel and Citrin Cooperman assisting with financial due diligence and tax advisory. Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig acted as counsel to Furnace.