The news filtered down through the grapevine the other day that Yosuke Konishi of Nuclear War Now! Productions had entered into a new venture named Helios Press which will manufacture vinyl records in Brady, Texas. This hopes to serve the rising vinyl market which has not only not fizzled but continues to gain strength:
Following a 51.4% year-over-year increase in vinyl album sales in 2021 and a 46.2% year-over-year increase in 2020, sales in 2022 rose just 4.2% over the year. Whether that’s due to slowing demand or supply issues that more pressing plants could help alleviate — it marks a significant deceleration following a pandemic-fueled period of rapid expansion.
43.46 million vinyl albums were sold in 2022 (up 4.2% from 41.72 million in 2021). 2022 was the 17th consecutive year vinyl album sales grew in the U.S., and the largest year for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking data in 1991.
This seems to be a growth market that is just going to get better, especially as more people flee digital after having parts of their collection disappear for licensing or business reasons. We were lucky to grab a few minutes with Mr Konishi for some questions about the business and his expanding empire.
How well is the vinyl market in music doing against the popularity of streaming services, and is metal different from other forms of music in this area?
I’ve been discussing this vinyl bubble with my friends for many years now and it just hasn’t popped. I think the vinyl format is here to stay at least for the underground genres like metal, Punk, noise and experimental music.
The trend of pressing Taylor Swift on vinyl will probably go away at some point as normie people move away entirely from any physical media. In fact this phenomenon of normal people buying records at Target for $40 each doesn’t seem very sustainable to me. I don’t think that many of the people buying these records even listen to them but rather use them like props on their shelves or pose with them for social media. It’s more of a performative prop rather than something they actively listen to as intended. I don’t know too many people like this so I might be 100% off the mark and normal people are actually listening to the records.
Who the hell knows, but I know that at least in the metal and punk scenes, there are enough people interested in supporting the physical media right now. Who knows what will happen in the future but I will do my best to keep physical media in circulation and Helios Press. I have nothing against digital streaming, in fact I do it daily, but there is something more rewarding to me about listening to physical media, especially 12-in vinyl because it’s more of an immersive experience and requires active/linear listening. What I mean by that is it’s much harder to skip over songs when listening to a record, and a good musician will be mindful of the complete packaging from the audio quality, visual art and texts.
What made you decide to launch Helios Press instead of keeping this venture as part of Nuclear War Now?
A few reasons; firstly, I am not the sole proprietor of Helios Press, and with NWN! essentially being an extension of myself and my philosophical outlook, I don’t feel that it would be appropriate for another to come on as a co-owner of that operation. Moreover, with the intention of operating as a separate entity of NWN! (although intertwined to a degree), a difference in name and branding was needed. While we intend to service the underground heavily, we will make strides to do business with different genres and scenes.
Did you pick Texas for any reason other than our stunning climate?
There were many reasons for picking Texas and specifically Austin Texas. Weather was definitely not one of them! The main reasons were lack of income tax, better schools, less emphasis on politics (left or right), and better quality of life in general. The Bay Area was falling apart at the seams during the pandemic and it continues to get worse. I honestly don’t know why some of my friends are still living there.
How much time and money will you save by printing your own releases?
I am not sure about the monetary aspect of it yet, but I’ll definitely shave off a month or two from each release schedule by having Helios Press. Right now it can take anywhere from two to four months to press a record at a factory in Europe. Shipping adds about two to four weeks depending on the method of shipping.
Are you concerned about the alleged collapse of the American record store, with many of them going out of business?
The ones that are not doing so well are usually mismanaged or not focusing on records that actually sell. Perhaps physical record stores will go away as Amazon and other online retailers chip away at their market. The good thing about vinyl records is that most collectors and even regular passive consumers like the experience of flipping through records in person and inspecting used records before purchasing. Hopefully physical record stores will stay for the long run but I can’t predict what the future holds because the stores rely heavily on normal people.
With this Kickstarter campaign, do you think you can raise enough money to keep the business in operation long enough to be profitable?
Absolutely. Our goal is to use this fundraising campaign to skirt around taking a commercial loan from a bank, avoiding the fucked interest rates. We see it as mutually beneficial to us and our supporters, the records offered will be killer special editions featuring never before heard material from BLASPHEMY, SABBAT, and GOATLORD. A huge majority of this project is self funded, so with the success of this campaign, we will go into operation without any sharks looming overhead to collect debts. By the way the fundraiser campaign is no longer going to be done on Kickstarter, but rather we will run the entire fundraiser through the nwn online shop to avoid paying Kickstarter their 10% fee. Kickstarter and similar companies are better suited for people without a pre-existing customer base. Nwn has a customer base that’s been built over the past 24 years so I opted to not use them. Of course Kickstarter has a built-in community of its own that may not discover nwn’s fundraiser campaign otherwise, however the chances of that group contributing more than 10% is very unlikely considering the fact that almost all fundraiser items will be nwn pre-orders.
If all goes well, will we see more releases from Nuclear War Now, and if so, what?
I am not sure if there will be more coming out or just speed up the process of producing records. I definitely want to focus on more DIY types of releases where covers are handmade, perhaps silk screen printed and records are pressed with my own two hands. I like the idea of being more involved on the manufacturing side and touching every record that gets sent out. This used to be the case in the early days of NWN when I would make handcrafted covers or obi strips that were glued on by hand.
What metal albums that are out of print would you most like to see back on record store shelves?
That’s a good question because pretty much everything gets repressed at some point these days. It would be nice if bands like Sarcofago, Sextrash, Vulcano, Mystifier, Impurity and many other Brazilian bands from the 80s and early 90’s would have their back catalog kept in print and available in physical stores. Most of these releases are in fact kept in print but are notoriously neglected by most physical stores including those around here, with the exception of Eastern Front (NWN’s own store)!
Do you have plans to reprint demos, like Relapse and Xtreem music did, or other metal rarities?
I do a lot of that already and will continue to do so in the future. Demo recordings are some of my favorite recordings by some bands like Carpathian Forest, Blasphemy, Samael, Master’s Hammer, Root, etc. There is something special about those primordial raw recordings made by bands in their very early stages of life. Maybe because they weren’t jaded yet and only fueled by passion for their craft?
How do people keep track of what you are doing with Helios Press and where they can find your future releases?
Thanks a lot for the questions. Progress of Helios Press and NWN! news can be found here:
nwnprod.com
heliospressing.comhttps://www.instagram.com/nwnproductions/
https://www.instagram.com/heliospress/NWN Productions LLC
3607 San Antonio Street
Austin, Texas 78734
United States of America
Thanks Yosuke and good luck with your latest venture!
