NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the next six decades United Record Pressing stamped out the Beatles’ first American single, The nation’s oldest vinyl record company has outlived 8 tracks, cassettes, CDs, Napster, iPods and streaming services. Now the Nashville-based company has recovered so dramatically that some of its equipment and technology has been adapted to keep up with the ever-growing demand for vintage vinyl.
The 75-year-old company has pivoted its business from filling jukeboxes to helping DJs spin and spin filling shelves despite a pandemic. On the shelves in the warehouse are master versions of Johnny Cash, Kanye West and The Black Crowes.
When Mark Michaels bought the company in 2007, vinyl was fading: its 38 employees mostly made singles for rap artists, often promos for clubs. Michaels wanted a hands-on opportunity to build a business and thought he could keep this business stable but not grow it substantially. It also had a rich history as the first record pressing factory in the South, including an apartment on top of the factory that housed black artists and music executives during segregation.
“You walked into this building and you just felt 50, 60 years of history and the importance of what it stood for,” said Michaels, the company’s CEO and chairman. “And yes, you get suffocated, you just get goosebumps. experience that.”
Today, United Record Pressing runs a newer factory six times larger than what Michaels bought, with about 125 employees making up to 80,000 records a day.
There are several factors vinyl has given a boost in recent years, from independent artists pushing for vinyl albums to major retailers getting back on board.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, U.S. vinyl record revenues rose 10% to $1.4 billion in 2023, the 17th straight year of growth. Records accounted for 71% of revenue from non-digital music formats, and for the second time since 1987, vinyl surpassed CD sales in total.
United Record Pressing underwent its own evolution. The first pressing plant was founded in 1949 by the Nashville label Bullet Records. In the 1950s it changed to Southern Plastics Inc. and focused on 7-inch singles favored by jukebox makers.
In the early 1960s, the company printed more than 1 million records per month. It signed a deal to produce singles for Motown Records and moved to a larger location that included the apartment where The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and others stayed – and which became known as the ‘Motown Suite’. In 1963, the Beatles’ first American single, “Please Please Me,” was released. In the 1970s, a restructuring transformed the company into United Record Pressing.
In the 1980s, records fell into a niche market. DJs still needed records for their turntables. Rap and hip-hop artists used them for scratching. But the CDs had caught up with them.
By the late 2000s, indie artists insisted on releasing vinyl records. There were records in 2015 again widely embraced, but there were few manufacturers, and they relied on presses from the 1960s and 1970s and a limited number of specialists to operate them, Michaels said. Demand increased again during the corona pandemic.
“It’s art,” Michaels said of vinyl records. “Artists and fans want something tangible to hold on to and engage with. Streaming music is easy and streaming music is a great way to discover new music. But you know, at the end of the day it’s like a sonic wallpaper.
Today the factory combines old and new.
There is a lot of wood paneling on the antique audio equipment used to test master versions of records before using them to make copies. And the factory floor features a host of updated pressing equipment that looks and sounds like it’s been around since the last time vinyl ruled the market.
Technology also improves the process. In addition to the older presses, there are sleek, newly made machines that press out records more quietly and efficiently. And there are huge bags of colorful stones made from discarded material that can be pressed into new records.
The machines that stamp master copies use technology that already existed for CD and DVD production, but has now been adapted for vinyl.
In a room further down the factory, the whirring of machines gives way to music.
That’s where Tyler Bryant could listen to ten records in a shift as the company’s head of quality control. Talking about the harmonica rhythms of a Cash album, Bryant said he discovers many artists and records that wouldn’t be on his list, ranging from Harry Styles to Beyonce’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ to indie artists.
“A lot of variety, I appreciate that,” Bryant said. “I don’t like being stuck with just one genre, you know?”
A few kilometers away, architects and a construction crew are working to preserve the old 1962 factory and pave the way for its future. As for what that will look like, Michaels says stay tuned.
“My vision hasn’t quite crystallized yet, but the mandate is for it to be one of the most important spaces in all of music,” Michaels said. “It should be celebrated. It has to be something that people can get started with.”