Vinyl Records Are Having a Moment A 65-year-old record-pressing plant settles into a growth groove.
This story appears in the January 2015 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Video killed the radio star, said the Buggles (still debatable), but the conventional wisdom that MP3s killed vinyl just doesn't hold true—at least, according to United Record Pressing of Nashville, Tenn.
In business since 1949, the company (originally called Southern Plastics) has been melting pellets of vinyl and pressing them into 7-, 10- and 12-inch phonograph records since 1962. Far from an anachronism in this age of digital music, United is expanding. In fact, management credits new technology with contributing to a rebirth of appreciation in vinyl. "Digital is the peak of convenience, and vinyl is the peak of experience," explains Jay Millar, director of marketing.
The two formats can indeed work in tandem. According to Millar, about 75 percent of the vinyl records pressed (new albums, not reissues) come with a code for a free digital download of the same music.
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