Jul 28, 2026 · 22 min · 9 segments
Pressing a vinyl record is one of the most exciting moments in releasing music—but it's also one of the easiest places to make expensive mistakes. \----more---- PRESENTED BY Hellbender Vinyl…
Anyway, here's, here's the, the five mistakes that I see people make, artists and record labels make, when pressing vinyl.
We talk about this with releasing music, and it's even more true with manufacturing.
There's this term called, uh, uh, lead time, right? Well, I've talked about it before.
That just means the runway that you give yourself before you take off, so the time between when the music is ready and release day.
And so I see a lot of record labels and independent artists especially not give themselves enough runway to get their vinyl project off the ground.
At the time of recording this, I think they're, they can be eight to 10 weeks if you've got everything together.
Now, that clock doesn't start until you get your deposit in or if you have to pay in full.
It doesn't start until you get all your art files and all of your audio files and you sign all your agreements and everything's good to go.
I've sent the art... audio files, but I'm still waiting on the art files." Well, the clock hasn't started yet.
And so we need a long lead time for this pressing process because it takes a long time.
By the time, like, you, you know, your art... there's something wrong with your art file or the credit card didn't go through, uh, I think it's safe to, to allow f- 12 weeks.
Um, and again, doesn't hurt to, to have even more time than that in case something goes wrong.
Anyway, here's, here's the, the five mistakes that I see people make, artists and record labels make, when pressing vinyl.
We talk about this with releasing music, and it's even more true with manufacturing.
There's this term called, uh, uh, lead time, right? Well, I've talked about it before.
That just means the runway that you give yourself before you take off, so the time between when the music is ready and release day.
And so I see a lot of record labels and independent artists especially not give themselves enough runway to get their vinyl project off the ground.
At the time of recording this, I think they're, they can be eight to 10 weeks if you've got everything together.
Now, that clock doesn't start until you get your deposit in or if you have to pay in full.
It doesn't start until you get all your art files and all of your audio files and you sign all your agreements and everything's good to go.
I've sent the art... audio files, but I'm still waiting on the art files." Well, the clock hasn't started yet.
And so we need a long lead time for this pressing process because it takes a long time.
By the time, like, you, you know, your art... there's something wrong with your art file or the credit card didn't go through, uh, I think it's safe to, to allow f- 12 weeks.
Um, and again, doesn't hurt to, to have even more time than that in case something goes wrong.
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