Making Vinyl Memphis

In February 2020, a factory explosion in California left the global vinyl manufacturing industry with only one lacquer supplier, an early critical step in the record-making process. Somehow the remaining Japanese supplier has ramped up production to keep kept the entire eco-system afloat. But even they're one tsunami away from putting all production at a standstill.
Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) is the oldest and largest nonprofit that helps organizations around the world prepare for and recover from disasters by providing education, accreditation, and thought leadership in business continuity, disaster recovery, cyber resilience and related fields. Ray Seid will provide tips of how to protect your operation if disaster occurs.

The ultra-competitive vinyl manufacturing industry is heavily reliant of electronic delivery of everything from music files to contracts with suppliers and customers. Are your computer systems adequately protected from a cyber attack?

The Vinyl Alliance presents groundbreaking new research on the attitudes, behaviors, and motivations of Gen Z vinyl fans, drawing upon 2,500 survey responses, a dedicated Gen Z focus group, expert interviews, and deep industry analysis. This presentation will explore the key findings, which reveal a nuanced picture of why young listeners are embracing vinyl in 2025 — not just for music, but for identity, mental well-being, a sense of community, and more. VA General Manager Ryan Mitrovich will share insights that will help labels, artists, and retailers better understand and engage with the next generation of collectors.

A leading researcher gives us their latest global forecast of the rapidly changing vinyl market.

The rapid rebirth of vinyl over the past decade has been exploited by nefarious parties internationally. Our speaker has been tracking the illegal activity for the VRMA. 

Maybe it's osmosis, but the co-founder of Making Vinyl is actually getting in the game. Thermal Beets Records was organically born where else but Making Vinyl? Coming back from Making Vinyl Europe in the fall of 2022, I had to switch planes in Iceland. The quality of the in-flight entertainment knocked me out. All I knew were The Sugarcubes, Björk and Sigur Ros. I thought to myself, if any place in the world might need a pressing plant it might be Iceland. I had just made a mental note of the plant-based material I heard about for the first time days earlier in Offenbach at the conference. At next year's events in Minneapolis and Haarlem, I found my co-founders. We manufactured our first record in October 2024, a sampler for Iceland Airwaves, featuring the music of nine local musicians playing at tits 25th festival. But we're not making vinyl, lol.

Photographer Eilon Paz has travelled the world to capture a total portrait of global record collecting culture in his definitive Dust & Grooves project. Ten years since his best-selling Dust & Grooves Vol. 1,  Vol. 2: Further Adventures in Record Collecting demonstrates that vinyl is more than a format—it’s a lifestyle. Dust & Grooves celebrates everyday collectors alongside music royalty. Four Tet, Questlove (The Roots, The Tonight Show, Jay-Z, D’Angelo), jazz icon Ron Carter (Miles Davis bassist 1963-1968), comedian Eric Andre, punk filmmaker Don Letts, A-Trak, Floating Points, Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf, Nabihah Iqbal, Quantic, DāM-FunK, and the family of the late BBC DJ John Peel are just some of the collectors captured across both volumes – with over 150 collectors in the new Vol. 2 alone. Paz has rare insight into
 the cultural impact of records, the resurgence of vinyl as a luxury product, and how collectors, DJs, and music lovers shape the industry’s future.