Founder of Estonian vinyl record plant: we had to invent the technology ourselves
Toss Records co-founder Toomas Talts says love for local music led to building a vinyl pressing plant in Jõhvi, where the founders had to develop the entire technical infrastructure themselves. The factory now runs at full capacity, producing records for several Estonian artists.
Toomas Talts, one of the founders of vinyl record producer Toss Records, said on the R2 Päev radio programme that the company's plant in Jõhvi was built out of the founders' love for local music and a wish to give Estonian artists an alternative for pressing records.
Building the technology from scratch
According to Talts, launching the company required lengthy preparatory work, since the founders had to develop the entire technical infrastructure on their own. Building the plant from the ground up — including technical solutions, steam systems, cooling systems and the record press itself — took about a year and a half.
Talts noted that the company has no sponsors and that the founders themselves took on the financial risk, which he said shows that their love for local music is not just empty words. In the early stages, the founders acted with the boldness typical of startups, pressing their first records under their own brand even before they had their own factory.
Factory now at full capacity
Today the Jõhvi plant operates at full capacity, producing physical records for numerous artists, including Reket and Liis Lemsalu, among others.
Talts pointed out that a significant share of the records end up in the homes of people who don't even own a turntable. He said listening to vinyl involves a certain concentration, since listeners have to walk over to the turntable to place the needle, making them less likely to skip a song they're tired of. In his view, this represents a different dimension of listening to music that is becoming increasingly rare in the modern world.
Talts also noted that vinyl records are quite heavy, so for large print runs — for example for the American market — it often makes more sense to split production across several pressing plants in different countries rather than producing everything in Estonia.
