Jack White Gives Tour Inside Third Man Records Factory on ‘CBS This Morning’
Jack White appeared on CBS This Morning Saturday to give a rare look inside his recently opened Third Man Records factory as well as discuss his vinyl magnate aspirations.
“One day, I want this place to be like what I had heard about Henry Ford wanted for the Ford Motor Company, which was you pour in all your raw materials on this side, and out the other side of the factory pop out cars,” White said.
“We’re close now. The only thing we’re not doing is plating and making the sleeves.” White’s new Detroit factory also boasts “all new presses, new boilers, new hydraulics, new piping. Everything is brand new.”
White’s Third Man Records has earned a reputation for their inventive approach toward vinyl, going back to 2010 and the “triple decker” 7″-within-a-12″ single for the Dead Weather’s “Blue Blood Blues,” with copies now commanding upwards of $1,500 at auction.
Since then, Third Man Records has done everything from a platinum-coated release for The Great Gatsby soundtrack to pressing actual flower pedals inside the wax to a glow-in-the-dark “cosmic slop” release for Carl Sagan’s “A Glorious Dawn.”
“Some things that were gimmicky, some things that were beautiful; anything to capture the attention of people to bring back to the physical product and get away from invisible music and disposable music,” White said, adding that the adventurousness has paid off, since Third Man has always been profitable.
“You know, I sometimes sort of lay in bed thinking a lot of it is a waste of my time. Because I don’t know how much of it really connects and follows through, and especially in the day and age I was dropped on planet Earth, to work in the day and age where people – music is the last thing on their mind after their cellphone, Netflix, Internet.”
In addition to the Third Man tour, CBS This Morning also hosted a performance by the label’s newest signee, fiddler and Jack White touring member Lillie Mae: