On March 31, Cleveland’s Gotta Groove Records became an even bigger player in the vinyl record industry when it announced its acquisition of NiPro Optics Records plating division in California. The absorption will bring the latter’s operation from the West Coast to Gotta Groove’s new Columbus space.
Absorbing the company — which manufactures the essential metal stampers used to press vinyl records — not only gives Gotta Groove full in-house control of the record-making process, but positions the business as the biggest distributor for stampers across the United States.
“The other part of the transaction is we are going to become the exclusive distributor of what's called the MDC lacquers,” says Gotta Groove President Matt Earley. “That is the blank medium that grooves are cut into in the very first step of making records.”
Now, the Northeast Ohio company can complete the full production process in-house. Starting with the lacquers that act as the master copies of the music, the company then creates stampers used for mashing mounds of vinyl in large industrial presses, which creates the finished records before they’re slipped into sleeves and shipped out for sale.
For all other vinyl pressers in the country, they must go through an outside supplier for the first two steps. That company is now Gotta Groove.
The absorption of NiPro came somewhat unexpectedly, Earley adds. Gotta Groove had initially struck a deal with the California operation to receive the necessary equipment for producing its own record stampers over a year ago.
To prepare, Earley and his team bought space in Columbus to accommodate the new machinery. However, plans changed after a trip out to NiPro for equipment training.
“While I was there, they said, ‘Hey, what do you think of just buying all our stuff and we get out of the business?’” Earley recalls. “And so, yeah, it was a little shocking. But they were serious, and they wanted to move fast.”
The two entities finalized the acquisition in February. The equipment is expected to arrive in Columbus on Monday, April 10, and Gotta Groove has already hired five new team members to manage the operation, with a possible sixth to be hired later on.
Formed in 2009, the Cleveland-based record factory was one of roughly a dozen in the country at the time, Earley says.
The aim was to simplify the record making process and press the highest quality records possible.
Taking on stamper and lacquer distribution ticks both boxes — giving Gotta Groove full control of record creation and hopefully expediting the process, Earley says. The overhaul comes at a time when vinyl sales have spiked dramatically compared to the last few decades.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, vinyl overtook CD sales for the first time since the ‘80’s in 2020. The ensuing vinyl boom hit Gotta Groove in full force, taking the company’s turnaround time from around five or six months to well over a year.
“Overnight, [turnaround] doubled, I would say, in 2020,” Earley remembers. “For two years straight our lead time was well over a year. There were some points it was, like, 13, 14, 15 months — it's definitely less than half that now, which is about where it should be.”
The company president credits Gotta Groove’s expansion and lower turnaround to recent developments, including an added third shift at the plant. He hopes the addition of NiPro’s operation will expedite the process even further. Orders haven’t slowed down since the surge.
However, Earley and his team maintain the same goals: a simple and high-quality process to produce the best records on the market. As of February, the company solidified Northeast Ohio as the linchpin for vinyl in the country.
“Our overall mindset has always been forward,” Earley says. “How can we make records better? And how can we make them more attainable? We feel like this is really going to give us the tools to advance the quality, not just under our own pressing plant roof but for other plants. If we're able to make sure that everyone [receives] the lacquers, as well as the plating when they need it, then it's just going to increase access and, hopefully, at least make a dent in turnaround time for the industry at large.”
