Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
May 11, 2022 07:55 AM

Companies invest in new capacity to meet demand for vinyl records

Jeannie Reall
Correspondent
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    MemphisRecord-main_i.jpg
    Memphis Record Pressing LLC
    Memphis Record Pressing LLC has launched a $30 million expansion to triple its vinyl record production space.

    Vinyl's back, baby.

    Major recording artists are singing the praises of vinyl albums, sending record-pressing companies into overdrive to overcome a burgeoning production backlog. It's a plastic explosion.

    In April, four companies announced they are planning major expansions to keep up with consumers' and artists' demand for the distinctive sound — some say the texture — of vinyl records. Or, as one expanding record presser phrased it, "to feel the humanity in a record."

    Memphis Record Pressing LLC launched a $30 million expansion that will triple the company's production space and double its staff — a move it claims will make it the largest vinyl record maker by volume in North America. MRP will be able to produce 125,000 records a day, the company said in a news release.

    "This expansion will provide much-needed relief to the enormous backlog in the vinyl industry that's been driven by historic and unprecedented consumer demand," MRP co-founder and CEO Brandon Seavers said in the release.

    The expansion includes construction of a 33,000-square-foot press operation next to MRP's headquarters in Bartlett, Tenn., and renovation of a 100,000-square-foot warehouse 13 miles away in Memphis proper. The warehouse will allow the company to greatly expand packaging operations and should open in June.

    Memphis Record Pressing LLC
    MRP will be able to produce 125,000 records per day with the expansion.

    "Our plan, once the new building is complete — hopefully in October, though we have experienced weather-related delays — is to start bringing six new machines online a month for six months," MRP publicist Mark Jordan said in an email. "With our existing 16 machines, we will have 42 machines in all with a production capacity of 125,000 records a day."

    Obtaining so many presses would seem quite a feat, given the industrywide shortage of machines.

    When LPs fell out of favor in the 1980s, replaced first by tapes and then CDs and DVDs, there was little need for the compression molding machines that had been used to produce vinyl records.

    That has certainly changed. Now the scarce machines are very much in demand and new ones can't be made fast enough. In 2020, vinyl outsold CDs for the first year since 1986, when cassettes were still king with 53.9 percent of the total sales volume for all formats, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

    But Jordan said MRP isn't worried about its supply of machines. The company will get its equipment via GZ Media Group of Loděnice, Czech Republic, one of the world's largest vinyl record makers. At the same time, GZ Media is launching its own U.S. company, Nashville Record Pressing (NRP), and is affiliated with Precision Record Pressing of Burlington, Ontario.

    "We refer to Precision Record Press[ing] and NRP as sister companies that in partnership with GZ Media in Czech Republic make up GZ North America: separate entities, global coordination and cooperation," MRP's Jordan said.

    GZ is investing $13.3 million to start NRP, and it expects to create 255 jobs over five years. Its affiliate, GZ Vinyl, even makes its own vinyl compound.

    United Record Pressing LLC of Nashville is also expanding to the reported tune of $15 million to double production. The company said it will be adding 48 presses and, eventually, 200 workers.

    Meanwhile, record-of-the-month club Vinyl Me, Please of Denver just announced it will build its own "experiential" vinyl pressing plant there. The company previously has contracted work to record pressers — including GZ Media — but now will have its own 14,000-square-foot "audiophile-grade" facility.

    When the site opens by the end of the year, it will host tours and special events for music fans. In addition to record-pressing operations, the facility will boast a bar, listening area and a "chief groove officer" — David Rawlings, co-founder of Acony Records.

    Need more on vinyl? Here's our most recent stories
    Vinyl siding prices rise along with resin
    Vinyl siding came in second, again, in exterior housing material, but the slide is slowing
    Armstrong Flooring enters bankruptcy, blames rising costs
    Kickstart: Calling for a Seven Nation Army of vinyl presses
    Kickstart: Take those old records off the shelf
    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Numbers That Matter Live — sign up for the next live
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Plastics recycling undergoing tremendous change
    2
    Pipe extruder fined for child labor law violation
    3
    White House: Bioplastics goal part of ‘huge urgency' on climate
    4
    Tax credits, biorefinery support sought to fulfill Biden bioplastics goal
    5
    Achieving plastics sustainability will be a long journey
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified