French vinyl, CD, DVD pressing and cassette duplication plant, manufacturing and distribution company founded in 1957.
The MPO initials stand for Moulage Plastique de l'Ouest (in English: Plastic Moulding of the West), sometimes spelled as Moulages Plastiques de l'Ouest. MPO can also be credited as M.P.O. on releases.
The original vinyl pressing plant was established by Monique and Pierre Tyrel De Poix in 1957 in Averton (Mayenne).
After continuous expansion, MPO has permanent offices throughout the world, with still a strong presence in Europe.
The group's current operations are structured around its three production sites and logistics centres: MPO France (Averton and Villaines La Juhel), MPO Iberica (Madrid, Spain), and MPO Asia (Bangkok, Thailand), with numerous sales offices in Europe and Asia as well as a partnership in the US.
Vinyl:
Vinyl discs pressed or plated MPO usually have a hand-etched "MPO" (in rare cases 'MP') inscription in the runouts.
Until 1985 there is just one pressing ring around the spindle hole (e.g. release).
On discs pressed before the 1980s the runout can occasionally be stamped as well.
1985 to 2018:
From mid 1985 three concentric pressing rings around the spindle hole are starting to appear on releases (examples: white label, retail).
When MPO appears in the runouts without the concentric rings, please use Plated At.
Since ~ 2017:
The MPO logo is laser etched.
Please enter this as [MPO logo]. When ® appears next to the logo, enter it as "[MPO logo]®" in BAOI fields.
The logo is followed by a laser etched stamper number in the format ## #####, where the first two digits indicate the year the stamper was manufactured (example). DO NOT ADD THIS AS LCCN NUMBER!
Where these numbers indicate consecutive years please enter runouts as a variant if there is an existing otherwise identical release. Examples:
- release
- release
Test pressing label designs:
- ??? to 1983
- 1984 to 1990
- 1991 to 1995
- 1996 to 1998
- 1998 to 2017
- 2018 to present.
* Test pressing labels may write: "échantillon" or "ECHANTILLON" that translates to "sample".
Cassettes:
"Duplication MPO" or "Duplication Moulage Plastique de l'Ouest" is printed on labels.
CDs:
MPO manufactured its first commercial CD on Dec 7, 1984.
CDs made at Averton are assigned the following SID codes (please do not credit the plant based on SID codes only):
Mastering codes: L031, L032, L033, L035, L036, L039, LY88 (can be misread as LV88!)
Mould code: 12##
MPO isn't always explicitly printed in the CD matrix, but can sometimes be identified by a string of tiny text with the following format:
CA [label cat#] [one or more "@"] IFPI [Mastering SID Code] M/D/YYYY HH:MM:SS [AM/PM] NNNNNNNNNN
Example: release
There was a forum decision to allow this for MPO in particular.
If you aren't sure, please ask in the forums.
When MPO is found in the matrix but the Mould Code is IFPI 13##, please use Pressed By - MPO Iberica instead.