According to a report by the Recording Industry Association of America, vinyl sales in 2022 saw 16 consecutive years of growth and have surpassed CDs for the first time since 1987. Ursina Beerli, Co-founder of Precious Sound, says that this trend in vinyl sales shows that there is a “premiumization” of vinyl records in the music industry. This means that there is a market for luxury music memorabilia, and that fans are willing to spend significant amounts of money for merchandise that represents the bond between the artist and their fans.

Co-founder Mark Sutton says the idea for this was also inspired by the fact that the gold and platinum records awarded for reaching a certain number of album sales are not playable. [Precious Sound's] technology took five years to develop, with over 100 trial pressings in order to achieve the highest quality of sound. Sutton says metal is much harder to press into records than vinyl, requiring around 10 times more pressure.

According to Precious Sound, such a high-value, long-lasting product makes it the ultimate keepsake, which is what many dedicated fans want to symbolize with their purchases. Rare items, such as first pressings of iconic music, have been sold for large amounts of money. Combining that with the innate value of precious metal creates an item that has extremely high collectors’ value, which can fetch a very high price on the secondary market.

Switzerland-based company Precious Sound has announced that it has completed the technology to create playable records using precious metals, namely gold, platinum, and silver. These records are the ultimate keepsakes, and represent the unique connection between a musical artist and their fans, as well as immortalize the artist's achievements.

“We are collaborating closely with artists and their management to release the ultimate keepsakes. Our pipeline contains projects such as a gold record to mark the 50th anniversary of a major hit song and a silver record for a 25th anniversary. Our records immortalize and celebrate great music, and it is a unique medium that represents the special relationship between an artist and their fans,” says co-founder Ursina Beerli.

Direct Metal Mastering is the basis of Precious Sound's pressing technique. However, all songs are re-mastered for metal, since metal has different properties than PVC. "After the cutting, our techniques start to diverge significantly from vinyl, since there are over 10 steps to prepare the metal for an optimal sound quality," explains co-founder Ursina Beerli. [Translated from German]