2021年经济学人 塑料供应短缺，黑胶唱片难产（在线收听）

Business

商业

Supply chains - Out of the groove

供应链——节奏之外（译者注：双关，这里既有脱离最佳状态之意，也暗指本文要讲的音乐行业，groove也指节奏）

The music industry is an unexpected victim of a plastics shortage.

音乐产业意外成为塑料供应短缺的受害者。

At the start of 2020, Green Lung, a London heavy-metal act with a cult following, were about to go on their first American tour.

2020年初，伦敦重金属乐队“绿肺”——拥有一众狂热追随者——即将进行他们的首次美国巡演。

Then came covid-19.

接着新冠疫情爆发。

The band used ensuing lockdowns to produce a second album, “Black Harvest”.

该乐队在随后的封锁时期内制作了第二张专辑《黑色收获》。

By December it was recorded and ready to be mastered and pressed onto 5,000 gold-vinyl records.

到了12月，专辑录制完成，准备制作母版，并压制出5000张金胶唱片。

Given pandemic disruptions, Green Lung gave itself lots of time, fully nine months, to make these in time for a tour this September.

考虑到疫情造成的破坏，绿肺乐队给自己留了充足的时间，赶在九月巡演之前，用整整9个月的时间来制作这些唱片。

“We were fairly comfortable,” says Tom Templar, the lead singer.

“我们感觉时间非常宽裕，”主唱汤姆·坦普尔说。

Instead the first pressing of the record, which is sold out in pre-orders, will not be available until October.

但实际情况并非如此，预售时就已销售一空的首版唱片要到10月份才能到手。

The band could have launched on a streaming service like Spotify.

乐队本可以在Spotify这样的流媒体上推出新专辑。

But it wanted to wait for the LP, which generates far more money in the short run.

但它想等等黑胶唱片，因为黑胶唱片能在短期内带来更多的利润。

“The vinyl sales prop up the US tour,” explains Mr Templar.

坦普尔解释说：“黑胶唱片的销售支撑着美国巡演。”

In the end, Green Lung played its album-launch gig on September 1st record-less.

最后，绿肺乐队在没有唱片的情况下于在9月1日举行了新专辑发布会。

The band thus became the latest, unexpected casualty of upheaval in global supply chains.

至此，该公司成为全球供应链动荡中最新的意外受害者。

First CDs, then digital downloads and now streaming have made vinyl records look like a vintage curiosity.

一开始是CD，然后是数字下载，现在是流媒体，这些都让黑胶唱片看起来像是老古董。

In recent years, however, sales have soared, as fans have taken to owning their favourite bands’ music in physical form (waxing insistent about its supposedly better sound quality).

然而，近年来，随着粉丝们开始购买他们最喜欢的乐队的实体形式音乐(他们坚持认为实体唱片的音质更好)，黑胶唱片的销量飙升。

In March vinyl sales in Britain reached highs last seen in 1989.

三月份，英国的黑胶唱片销量达到1989年以来的最高点。

“Every artist in the world has spent 18 months twiddling their thumbs, so they are making records,” says Ed Macdonald, the manager of 100% Records, which represents artists such as We Are Scientists, an indie rock band.

“世界上所有艺术家都有了18个月无所事事的时间，所以他们都在制作唱片，”100%唱片公司的经理艾德·麦克唐纳说。该公司代理着一些艺术家，比如独立摇滚乐队We are Scientists。

“Vinyl is such an integral part of our turnover,” he says.

他说：“黑胶是我们营业额中不可或缺的一部分。”

Mainstream artists are increasingly involved.

越来越多的主流艺术家参与进来。

Taylor Swift’s album, “Evermore”, first released digitally in December, broke a 30-year record for vinyl sales.

去年12月以数字形式首次发行的泰勒·斯威夫特的专辑《Evermore》打破了30年来的黑胶唱片销售记录。

Albums are expected to be released soon by Ed Sheeran, ABBA and Coldplay.

预计艾德·希兰、阿巴乐队和酷玩乐队的专辑很快就会发行。

Unfortunately for musicians, getting them pressed is becoming close to impossible.

不幸的是，对于音乐家们来说，压制唱片几乎快要成为不可能的事了。

In the late 1990s and early 2000s most vinyl-pressing factories closed.

在20世纪90年代末和21世纪初，大多数压胶工厂倒闭了。

As covid-19 raged the biggest remaining ones — in America, the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland — had to shut temporarily, creating a backlog.

随着新冠肆虐，剩下最大的几家工厂——位于美国、捷克、德国和波兰——不得不暂时关闭，造成了订单积压。

Now demand from musicians is outstripping capacity.

现在，生产能力已经无法满足音乐家们的需求。

On top of that, the price of PVC, the plastic used to make LPs, has surged after Hurricane Ida knocked out 60% of America’s production in August, while demand has boomed from firms that use the stuff in cars, pipes and much besides.

最重要的是，由于8月份飓风“艾达”摧毁了美国60%的PVC产品，这种用于生产黑胶唱片的塑料价格飙升，而汽车、管道和其他许多行业的公司对这种材料的需求也激增。

Dirk van den Heuvel of Groove Distribution, a distributor of dance music in Chicago, says that the big labels created the crisis by closing their own pressing factories in the 2000s.

芝加哥舞曲分销商Groove Distribution的Dirk van den Heuvel说，大唱片公司在21世纪初关闭了自己的压制工厂，从而造成了这场危机。

If they had kept these running, he grumbles, the majors would have been ready for the demand and smaller musicians would not now be so squeezed.

他抱怨道，如果他们当初继续经营这些工厂，大工厂就能做好满足需求的准备，小音乐家也不会像现在这样受到这么大的压力。

It is true that big labels can often secure priority on the presses.

诚然，大唱片公司往往能获得印刷的优先权。

But not always.

但也不总是如此。

It may be cold comfort to Mr van den Heuvel or Green Lung, but Ms Swift’s fans had to wait months for their LPs, too.

斯威夫特的粉丝们也得等上几个月时间才能拿到他们的黑胶唱片，虽然这对van den Heuvel或绿肺乐队来说，可能起不到什么安慰作用。