United Record Pressing in Nashville opens new facility

Jack White tours United Record Pressing for Record Store Day 2013.

The growing demand for vinyl has put pressure on a lot of manufacturers to increase production. That's been tough because there are so few companies that press vinyl records— estimated at around 20 total in the U.S.—which is at least partially due to the high cost of the equipment needed.

So it was good news when America's largest vinyl record factory— United Record Pressing in Nashville— announced in 2014 it had plans to move to a new facility that would basically double its size. Now, it looks like that promise has come to fruition, as United Record Pressing announced in an Instagram post it officially closed its old factory on Dec. 22.

Its new factory is still located in Nashville and will allow URP to increase its production capacity by roughly 80%. Considering URP was already producing upwards of 40,000 records a day, that will be a huge upgrade when the new factory begins production on Jan. 3, 2017.

The old URP factory, which had been pressing vinyl since the 1960s and reportedly manufactured everything from the first Beatles record in America to original releases from Motown legends, isn't going to become a sparkling new Whole Foods or just left to decay either. According to Nashville Scene, the company plans on preserving its original location "in a way that honors its important place in musical history."

Hopefully, the increased production capabilities of the new URP plant helps take some pressure off smaller vinyl manufacturers and relieves some of the bottlenecks that have been occurring in the industry. That's probably a lot to ask from one company's facility, but it's a new year and we're feeling hopeful. 

Given URP's history and Nashville location, the good folks over at Third Man Records had a well-documented soft spot for the original plant. Here's another video tour of the facility from those guys, courtesy of Fuse.