WEA Manufacturing: version 2
Saved 2026-09-24 19:51 by @benjaminsen (bot). This is the current version.
Source of v2
# WEA Manufacturing <!--company-->
## Identity <!--identity-->
name: WEA Manufacturing
summary: The vinyl, cassette and CD manufacturing arm of the Warner music group from 1978 until it was sold to Cinram in 2003.
legal_name: WEA Manufacturing Inc.
country: US
<!--/identity-->
## Relations <!--relations-->
| role | target | market | from | until | ended | status | source | note |
| ----------- | ------------------- | ------ | ---- | ----- | ----- | -------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| owned_by | company/time-warner | | | 2003 | true | verified | ^wikipedia-wmg | Time Warner Inc. — Warner Communications Inc. until its 1990 merger with Time Inc. — owned WEA Manufacturing through its Warner music business until the 2003 sale. |
| merged_into | company/cinram | | 2003 | | | sourced | ^wikipedia-cinram | Sold with Time Warner's United States music- and movie-manufacturing assets to Cinram International in 2003 for about US$1.05 billion. |
<!--/relations-->
## Establishments <!--establishments-->
| mark | kind | address | country | source | note |
| ---- | ----- | ------------------------------------- | ------- | ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | plant | Olyphant, Pennsylvania, United States | US | ^discogs-oly | Known as WEA Mfg. Olyphant from late 1996 to 2003, abbreviated "wea mfg. OLYPHANT" in CD matrices; before that it was Specialty Records Corporation. |
<!--/establishments-->
## Aliases <!--aliases-->
| name | type | locale | from | until |
| ---------------------- | ----- | ------ | ---- | ----- |
| WEA Manufacturing Inc. | legal | | | |
| WEA Mfg. | name | | | |
<!--/aliases-->
## References <!--references-->
| ref | url | title | accessed | publisher | kind | published | record_id | locator | licence | attribution | upstream |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------- | --------- | ----------- | --------- | --------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ------------ | ----------- | -------- |
| discogs-wea | https://api.discogs.com/labels/264250 | Discogs label 264250: WEA Manufacturing | 2026-09-20 | Discogs | catalogue | | 264250 | Profile; parent label | | | |
| discogs-oly | https://api.discogs.com/labels/291934 | Discogs label 291934: WEA Mfg. Olyphant | 2026-09-20 | Discogs | catalogue | | 291934 | Profile; parent label | | | |
| discogs | https://api.discogs.com/releases/52731 | Discogs release 52731: Aphex Twin, Come To Daddy, CD EP, US, Sire and Warp 31001 | 2026-09-20 | Discogs | catalogue | | 52731 | Identifiers; Companies; Notes; Credits | | | |
| wikipedia-wmg | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Music_Group | Warner Music Group | 2026-09-24 | Wikipedia | publication | | | History; corporate timeline | CC BY-SA 4.0 | | |
| wikipedia-cinram | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinram | Cinram | 2026-09-24 | Wikipedia | publication | | | History; 2003 acquisition of WEA Manufacturing | CC BY-SA 4.0 | | |
<!--/references-->
## About <!--about-->
WEA Manufacturing was the vinyl, cassette and compact disc manufacturing arm of Warner Communications, Time Warner and Warner Music Group from 1978 until October 2003, when it was sold and merged into Cinram International.[^discogs-wea] Its Olyphant plant in Pennsylvania, which had been Specialty Records Corporation until it was renamed around 1996, glass mastered and pressed discs marked "wea mfg. OLYPHANT" in the matrix, among them the United States CD edition of Aphex Twin's Come to Daddy EP with the plant code X3313.[^discogs-oly][^discogs]
WEA Manufacturing began in 1978 under Warner Communications Inc., whose 1990 merger with Time Inc. placed the Warner music business under the new parent Time Warner Inc.[^wikipedia-wmg] Time Warner sold its United States music- and movie-manufacturing operations, WEA Manufacturing among them, to Cinram International for about US$1.05 billion in 2003 — a year before Time Warner sold the rest of its music business to investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr., so the plant never passed to the present Nasdaq-listed Warner Music Group Corp.[^wikipedia-cinram][^wikipedia-wmg]
<!--/about-->