WWME Alsdorf - manufacturing geeks question

One for the manufacturing geeks. (@ernstlx I’m giving you a shout as you have been editing and researching these German plants too)

Warner Music Manufacturing Europe was based at Alsdorf, Germany. They manufactured CDs and Vinyl. On some releases they are credited as WME. Other releases as WMME Alsdorf.

I believe these two need to be merged. Thoughts? Anyone see a reason not to merge? Apart from Discogs having them split due to different ways the name is typed, it seems to me that the initials are being used purely as the full company name not fitting on CDs.

This is the one and same manufacturing company.

I’d merge WMME Alsdorf into the bigger name as there are less releases changed then. (And that target is the older one)

Otherwise there is already a chaotic overlap going on here…

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Dunno. Discogs claims WMME Alsdorf was a division of Warner Music Manufacturing Europe.
Then again this might be due to their nuts policy to split every hair possible.

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This is my main thought of that one. They have a bizarre blind spot when it comes to Europe and seem to prefer a “what the label says” pedantry instead of Company Reality.

Companies have many names, and MB uses aliases to handle this. The discs under both of those companies came off of the same presses in the same buildings at the same site.

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If we talk about the manufacturer, it’s definitely the same.

If we accept brands, WMME (or WME on CDs … Discogs stops splitting at this point :wink: ) is a brand of Warner Music Manufacturing Europe. Therefore it could be a subsidiary as it is now. But there’s no real reason to do so. WME is already an alias. WMME Alsdorf should be another.

I fully agree to merge them.

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Half of the ones under WMME Alsdorf are CDs I added there anyway. And closer reading those CDs I own say WME on the discs, and Warner Music Manufacturing Europe on the paperwork.

I’m going to check 'em all, and then stick in a merge. Want to make sure any aliases are correct for that handful of WMME Alsdorf discs.

I have only ever used the WMME Alsdorf name due to Discogs, and looking at all of my CDs so far they none of them use that name anyway…

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Merge here: Edit #83951737 - MusicBrainz

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Maybe it should have the full company name as another alias: Warner Music Manufacturing Europe GmbH (in this case it was the company name all the time, until it was renamed to Cinram GmbH)

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Done.

It is getting funny as I am looking through the handful of releases under WMME Alsdorf. Some of these are plain wrong when compared to the cover - and mostly due to errors being copied from Discogs. All of mine should have been the longer name, and now I am checking the others some of these are actually the previous company, others just miscount the number of M’s in WME of the matrix.

There is a note at Discogs that basically says “WME = WMME Alsdorf” ignoring that many of those covers give the full company name. And WME was also used by Record Service GmbH.

Or WME is still pressing CDs with the old company details on the paperwork and CD artwork?

Not once have I seen the text “WMME Alsdorf” written down.

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I suppose discs with WME were not pressed until 1991. The plant was already bought by Warner, but operated under the name TELDEC Record Service GmbH. It was renamed WMME in 1991 and discs with WME are 1991* earliest.

  • EDIT: I looked it up: it was Nov. 1990

WMME Alsdorf is mainly found in the runout of vinyl records. If it’s printed on cover/booklet it’s always the full company name.

I have some Doors CDs from this era. I remember buying them in 1991 and they are WME on the matrix, but the CD artwork and paperwork still the old company name. I realise this is common when plants change hands.

As I am only looking at CDs currently this explains lack of WMME on anything I am looking at.

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That’s reasonable, and the discs were probably manufactured by WMME in 1991.
You will find “WMME (Alsorf)” only on vinyl records.