United Record Pressing

In 1947, United Record Pressing was founded under the name 'Bullet Plastics' as an offshoot of one of the first independent labels in Nashville, Bullet Records. The new vinyl record pressing plant was the first of its kind in the South at the time. Then, just as its parent company was dissolved in 1949 due to poor sales, Bullet Plastics began producing what would soon put the company on the map- the seven-inch 45 rpm record. Sales of 45 rpm records went through the roof in the 1950's, forcing Bullet Plastics to move to bigger facilities, where they changed their name to 'Southern Plastics'.

By the early 1960's, Southern Plastics had secured contracts with Vee-Jay Records and Motown- the latter of which they produced all vinyl singles for. These contracts were massively lucrative for Southern Plastics, which moved to a 20,000 square-foot plant on Chestnut Street in 1962. This plant would later press the first 45 rpm Beatles record in North America. In their new facilities, the company also created a luxury apartment-suite above the factory floor. Known as the "Motown Suite", this suite served as accommodations for the Black artists who worked for Motown since, at the time, many hotels in Nashville still openly engaged in racial discrimination. Black artists such as The Supremes and Smokey Robinson were said to have stayed in the suite and hosted parties there.

In 1971, new management acquired Southern Plastics and renamed it 'United Record Pressing', which it is still called today. Over the next decades, United Record Pressing- previously dedicated only to making 45 rpm records- acquired several plants in the Nashville area which made ten and twelve inch records. With these acquisitions, United Record Pressing quickly became the largest and oldest operating vinyl record pressing company in North America. In 2010, United released its own record label- 435 Music. Four years later, 435 Music and United Record Pressing worked with musician Jack White to make the fastest studio-to-sale record in history. White recorded "Lazaretto", a single off of his then-upcoming album, along with a B-Side cover of Elvis Presley's 1969 song, "Power of Love". United Record Pressing then pressed, assembled, and packaged the vinyl record. The entire process was recorded on a stopwatch and was completed in less than four hours. The achievement was recorded in the 2014 Guinness Book of World Records.

On December 22, 2016, United Record Pressing announced via social media that they would be closing down its Chestnut Street branch and moving to much larger facilities in Nashville in January of the following year. Despite this, the company has stated that it plans to preserve the historic former building and plant.

Estes, Sara. The Persistence of Vinyl, The Bitter Southerner. Accessed November 1st 2020. https://bittersoutherner.com/united-record-pressing.

Gold, Adam. United Record Pressing Closing Historic Plant [Updated], Nashville Scene. December 22nd 2016. Accessed November 1st 2020. https://www.nashvillescene.com/music/nashville-cream/article/20847562/breaking-united-record-pressing-closing-historic-plant-updated.

McCall, Michael. Turning Around: The colorful past and promising future of United Record Pressing, Weekly Wire. March 29th 1999. Accessed November 1st 2020. http://www.weeklywire.com/ww/03-29-99/nash_cover.html.

Coleman, Miriam. Jack White Releases World’s Fastest Record, Rolling Stone. April 19th 2014. Accessed November 1st 2020. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jack-white-releases-worlds-fastest-record-123302/.