The music industry is an unexpected victim of a plastics shortage

AT THE STARTLPUS of 2020 Green Lung, a London heavy-metal act with a cult following, were about to go on their first American tour. Then came covid-19. The band used ensuing lockdowns to produce a second album, “Black Harvest”. By December it was recorded and ready to be mastered and pressed onto 5,000 gold-vinyl records. Given pandemic disruptions, Green Lung gave itself lots of time, fully nine months, to make these in time for a tour this September. “We were fairly comfortable,” says Tom Templar, the lead singer.Instead the first pressing of the record, which is sold out in pre-orders, will not be available until October. The band could have launched on a streaming service like Spotify. But it wanted to wait for the , which generates far more money in the short run. “The vinyl sales prop up the tour,” explains Mr Templar. In the end, Green Lung played its album-launch gig on September 1st record-less. The band thus became the latest, unexpected casualty of upheaval in global supply chains.