This week we talk to Mark Michaels, President/Owner of Nashville’s United Record Pressing, the oldest vinyl pressing plant in North American–2024 marks the company’s 75th anniversary. His leadership has helped URP keep up with the recent global growth on vinyl (revenues up 13.4% in 2023) by expanding to a capacity to press over 100,000 records daily, 120+ employees, and a customer service philosophy that treats the indie artist like they were a major label. Mark will discuss the pivotal role that URP has played in the music industry since it started in 1949, delving into its history as well as what convinced him to buy the company without any prior music industry experience. Other topics include URP notables–pressing the first US 7-inch of the Beatles’ “Please Please Me,” to Taylor Swift’s unprecedented large-scale pressing demands of late.
