Kylie Minogue’s ‘Tension’: A Top Title For Sonopress As Well
"Tension," the just-released new album by Australian-British superstar Kylie Minogue, is one of the most important releases of the year for BMG. "Tension" is also one of the year’s biggest orders for its fellow Group company Sonopress. The records manufacturer has produced a six-figure number of "Tension" CDs and LPs.
What color would you like? A vibrant magenta perhaps? Or maybe a toxic green – or perhaps orange? Kylie Minogue fans who want to buy the just released and long-awaited album of the Australian-British superstar in vinyl have choices to make. Depending on where they purchase the record recently released by BMG, they can get different-colored versions of “Tension”. Like their digital cousins, the CDs, the colorful vinyl discs were manufactured by Sonopress. The company, which is part of Bertelsmann Marketing Services, has been one of the world’s leading producers of records and discs for decades. In the spring, it received a major order from BMG, the music company responsible for Kylie Minogue, for the production of a six-digit number of “Tension” CDs and LPs, which went on sale worldwide to coincide with the album’s release on September 22.
“We produced the vinyl discs over the course of about eight weeks on our state-of-the-art pressing machines, which we had just commissioned at our partner Media Industries in Sainte Marguerite, France this spring,” reports Sonopress sales manager Jörg Pollmeyer (read more here). “And this title is the biggest LP order we have received since then. The collaboration with our colleagues at BMG was excellent, production went smoothly and was completed by the end of August. Then the finished LPs were forwarded to places including the fellow Group company Arvato in nearby Atton, which handles delivery within Europe from there.” The CDs were manufactured entirely at Sonopress’ headquarters in Gütersloh, and the LP covers and CD packaging were produced by our colleagues at Topac next door – 7,500 CDs also contain an insert signed by Kylie Minogue.
While the CDs were manufactured in two different versions , Sonopress produced five color versions of the vinyl records. “Records in general are still a big trend,” says Jörg Pollmeyer, “colored pressings are particularly popular, and we can offer them in many variations.” And so the records are available in the three bold colors mentioned at the beginning, as well as in silver and in black. The black disc can be purchased everywhere, while each of the color variants was produced exclusively for specific retail chains.
“We are confident that Kylie Minogue’s new album will sell extremely well,” says Jörg Pollmeyer. “In the U.K., ‘Tension’ has already reached the top of the chart in its first week, a brilliant success for Kylie Minogue and BMG. We are essentially in the starting blocks for possible reprintings and are now waiting for news from London to that effect.”
