Have you ever held a beautiful colored 12” vinyl, with an extended-gatefold sleeve in your hands and wondered how it was turned from an idea into a physical product? In many cases, this process relies on a broker – an agent who operates between labels and manufacturers, helping turn creative ideas into physical products. 

Talking to three different brokers from three different countries, we looked to gain deeper insight behind the essential services they provide. We spoke to Scott Pollack from A to Z Media in the US; Silke Maurer from Handle With Care Manufacturing in Germany; and Ian Gowans from Key Production in the UK, to better understand their crucial role in the world of vinyl manufacturing.

What Does a Broker Do?

When releasing music on vinyl, a format that fans love and cherish, the end product should be creatively conceived and produced with the highest quality. In some instances an artist or label will know exactly what they want. In other cases, they might have no clue. From deciding which materials to use, to the design and style of the sleeve, to mastering and more, there can be an endless list of questions involved.

This is where the broker steps in. 

Getting in touch with a broker to help begin tackling these questions is as simple as picking up the phone or filling out an online form. Or in the case of A to Z Media, you can pop into one of their offices in New York, Portland, or Milwaukee.

“If people are local or touring, we always encourage them to come into one of our offices because we’re constantly getting new samples, new print stocks, and new merchandise that we’re working on,” explains Scott Pollack, President of A to Z Media. 

Based in the US, A to Z Media has several decades of experience working with both major labels and indie clients, and a near endless range of products and services on offer. “We could be working on a basic new order, an intake of art files, a collaboration regarding a new project of 500 copies of a 12” black record in a sleeve, or 100,000 in six different colors, distributed to territories around the world, and a box set with various media, with a book and posters,” explains Pollack, describing what a standard day might look like.

For a client with no prior experience with vinyl production, brokers are always ready to start from the beginning and be a guide through the process. 

“We have people who actually specialize in the hand-holding process,” explains Ian Gowans, from Key Production, Europe’s largest broker for musical products. From detailing which materials are available, to various creative options, how budgets work, to getting test pressings back, making fixes and more, a broker will run through all the steps of producing your vinyl.

UK-based Key Production specializes in creative services, thanks to their multifaceted in-house product design team. “We have teams in place who can start the design process and to get as many creative solutions as possible at the right price point,” explains Gowans. Over its 34-year history, Key Production has worked with a litany of clients, winning multiple awards. Dealing with specialist requests and artists at the peak of their game, producing releases for the likes of Muse, Depeche Mode, Kylie Minogue, and many others.

“Our packaging specialists, print effect specialists, vinyl pressing specialists have many, many years of experience in the industry,” Gowans details. The company also has technical specialists to ensure audio-quality, and can even assist with import problems, registering for mechanical royalties, and other production and shipping inquiries.

“We have people who actually specialize in the hand-holding process.”

Boiling a broker’s role down to a simple definition is difficult for Silke Maurer of Handle With Care. “In the beginning we were always saying ‘we are somebody who sells something, but not selling something,’” says Maurer, who emphasizes the collaborative nature of a broker’s work. She and her team take care to understand an artist or label’s vision, and works alongside them to realize that vision. “We are essentially there for everything and everybody.” Operating out of Berlin for the past 25 years, Handle With Care is one of Germany’s longest running agencies for manufacturing and packaging. “We’re essentially a small business, and treat our clients like family, because we speak their language.”

As a smaller company, Handle With Care remains flexible and able to understand and meet the needs of any client that comes through the door. Having a multilingual staff allows them to communicate with a wide variety of clients. “We have people who speak Spanish, French, English,” Maurer explains about their customer service-focused approach. “Your language is our language.”

In some instances, brokers are now providing some of the services a label might otherwise have done.

“A small, or even medium sized independent label won’t necessarily want to hire a production manager, so we provide that role for them, so it keeps it off their wage bill,” explains Gowans. “Production now in small to medium indies is going to be handled by their marketing team, and their marketing team wants to be focusing on marketing their records, not making them. That’s where we come in.”

“We have to treat brand new artists with their first vinyl release with the same care and attention as an order for a major artist.”

Getting Creative

Brokers facilitate the manufacturing and the production of vinyl, but they are also instrumental in the creative process.

Design can mean multiple things when it comes to producing vinyl. At the most basic level, it can mean choosing the color of the vinyl itself. The number of options for effects and variants grows quickly from there. Many clients are even exploring adding NFCs (near field chips) to their products that allow customers to access digital files directly through the vinyl.

“It’s become more deluxe, and a lot more specialized,” explains Pollack. “We do a lot more bespoke projects, especially with indie artists, whether that’s zoetrope, liquid vinyl, or whatever else.”

In some instances, design can involve walking the client through every step of the process. “We have to treat brand new artists with their first vinyl release with the same care and attention as an order for a major artist,” explains Gowans. 

The push for innovation and demand has led to some of the most unique and interesting products. 

One of the most elaborate products Gowans remembers Key Production being involved in, was for Australian artist Alpha Wolf. “They had this idea, which reflected the album artwork, to make a classic, old boombox that expanded out to include CDs, a cassette, a digital token and the vinyl,” he explains about the project. “We had a challenge to make something slide out, and to go from a vinyl size to an actual boombox, but we made it work.”

Creative design and packaging isn’t bound to any one genre. Handle With Care is well known within the electronic music scene, having produced box-sets for Ostgut Ton and Moderat, but also works with other diverse scenes and top artists. “We’ve been doing Sven Väth Cocoon box sets from the beginning,” Maurer replies, when asked about what she’s been most proud of. The elaborately designed box sets, with multiple discs and bespoke inlays, perfectly encapsulate the sound and output of the legendary electronic music label.

A to Z Media is also pushing the boundaries of packaging design. Their catalog is filled with unique releases, including a fold-out house sleeve for the re-issued soundtrack of Home Alone, and an actual picture book release for hardcore band Touche Amore’s Is Survived By. One of the products they’re best known for is the 20th Anniversary Edition of MM.. Food, featuring brand new artworks and tri-color marble effect vinyl.

Brokering the Future

The past thirty years have seen multiple changes in the manufacturing sector. From shifting demand, to new materials, and the impact of Covid.

“We’ve had constant change throughout our 34 years,” Gowans explains about their history. “Vinyl is coming back, as people realize it is one of the most amazing ways to enjoy music.” When Key Production started up, vinyl was on the decline, and CDs were at their most popular. At the turn of the century, as streaming industries took over the market, physical products waned even further. 

“As digital started, we saw the start of a vinyl resurgence with electronic, independent, and metal labels,” Gowans details. As the century progressed, more and more labels wanted to explore physical releases, looking at the creative options they provided. 

“The first half of the last decade also saw a real growth in the deluxe box set market, as classic albums were remastered, put out with new content,” he explains further. And, as the vinyl resurgence hit its peak, the pandemic happened. “We had factories shutting down for weeks because of infections, but at the same time, artists and labor suddenly started to be creative.”

Suddenly this created a production capacity issue, where lead times became delayed. Thankfully, its a problem that no longer exists. “Now we’re in a position where new factories have started, and others have expanded, so that capacity is no longer an issue.”

The shift in how the industry works has changed the type of clients brokers work with. “As traditional record labels slash roles within the music industry, artists really have greater control, and thus the needs from a company like us have certainly morphed into different terrain,” explains Pollack. “That means the scope of the work we’re doing now has changed tremendously.”

With more and more independent releases, brokers find themselves working with artists, managers, and labels of all sizes. Another change which has occurred in the manufacturing sector is the push for more sustainably-made products.

“Although many of our processes have remained the same, there is a bigger push for more formats and Bio-vinyl,” explains Maurer. The use and availability of eco-friendly production techniques and materials are becoming more popular, with lots of artists opting for more sustainable vinyl.

“Our newest challenge is understanding how the format is being reinvented for a younger generation who is buying it.”

“Many of our artists and their fan bases want a more sustainable product,” explains Gowans. “One of the biggest changes we’ve seen involves the demand for polycarbonate records, and more eco-friendly products. For instance, we saw Billie Eilish recently release her album using recycled materials.”

Brokers are also noticing a change in who’s buying vinyl, and are evolving their offerings accordingly.

“Our newest challenge is understanding how the format is being reinvented for a younger generation who is buying it,” explains Gowans. “Pop artists want cool things with lots of colors. We have to understand that we need to provide solutions that people will consider cool, and sustainable at the same time. We need to make it as attractive as possible for new people getting into the industry.” 

Vinyl manufacturing brokers have remained dedicated to the format through periods of major change in the music industry. Regardless of how the industry may yet evolve, brokers will remain client-led service providers, embracing the challenges and creative potential of a given project.

“A while back, we made a 7” for a mechanic who recorded the sounds of the drill machines he worked with in a garage,” says Maurer, describing one of her more interesting projects. “It was a bespoke product he just made to give to his friends, because he really liked vinyl, and he loved what he did.”

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