A NEW VINYL record pressing plant has opened in Clane, Co Kildare, as vinyl sales in Ireland continue to rise.

The plant, operated by a company called Anthem Vinyl, is now pressing records across two machines and will initially employ around a dozen people, with plans to grow the team over time.

It’s the only vinyl record factory in Ireland; the last remaining company, Dublin Vinyl,  closed last year. 

The factory will plug a noticable gap in the Irish music market – vinyl sales here reached 397,000 units in 2024, narrowly ahead of 396,000 in 2023.

In 2019, the figure stood at just 218,000, with sales steadily increasing each year since.

Anthem Vinyl says it will offer a full range of pressing options and work with independent and major labels, both domestic and international. The company will handle fulfilment in-house, including orders placed through Bandcamp and artist websites.

“We’re pressing records this month across two pressing machines,” said spokesperson Chris Keena. “Each shift we’ll be able to produce almost a thousand records.”

Singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke is the plant’s first customer.

His Record Store Day edition of his album Since Kyabram is also the factory’s first release in the Smart Vinyl format – a vinyl record with a QR code linking to additional digital content.

“It obviously sounds the way we want it to, but it also looks fantastic. I think they’ve done a great job,” O’Rourke said.

“There’s something beautiful about it — it’s something tangible. I like actually owning music, and the ritual of putting it on.”

He also welcomed the re-introduction of vinyl record production to Ireland.

“It seems to be an all-Irish company, and there’s something sweet in that. My new album will be distributed abroad, but it’s guaranteed Irish this time,” O’Rourke said.

“It’s nice to put the big green tick on it!”

The plant is also a registered chart-reporting centre, meaning artists selling directly through their websites can count those sales toward Irish chart figures.

Anthem says it will make the space available to artists who want to film content or sign records before they’re shipped.

Record Store Day, which takes place today, is held every April in independent music shops around the world.

Special vinyl and CD releases are made exclusively for the day. Most Irish record stores are expected to take part.