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A resolution recognizing United Record Pressing for 75 years of operation.
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WHEREAS, United Record Pressing was established as Bullet Plastics, the vinyl manufacturer for Bullet Records, at the Nashville airport in a Quonset hut in 1949, becoming the first record pressing plant in the American South; and
WHEREAS, in the early 1950s, C.V. Hitchcock and John Dunn renamed Bullet Plastics to Southern Plastics; and
WHEREAS, in the early 1960s, the company was producing more than one million records per month, including the first Beatles record produced in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Motown Records contracted with the company to press most of the record label’s singles. United Record Pressing’s success led it to build a new facility south of downtown on Chestnut Street; and
WHEREAS, the new facility created what is now called the “Motown Suite,” an apartment above the factory which was meant to house Black artists and music executives at a time when few accommodations were available to African Americans in the city; and
WHEREAS, United Record Pressing continued to expand as many major record companies phased out their in-house pressing facilities. It became the largest independent record pressing plant in the Southeast; and
WHEREAS, the pressing plant continued operations even as vinyl records became a niche product after the popularization of compact discs in the 1980s and 1990s, pressing first influential first releases for punk and indie artists such as Minor Threat, Necros, Negative Approach, Cat Power, The Mummies, Neutral Milk Hotel, At The Drive-In, The Shins, and The King Khan & BBQ Show; and
WHEREAS, the return of interest in vinyl records revitalized the pressing plant and provided opportunities to create records for artists such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Jack White, Adele, Kendrick Lamar, and Taylor Swift; and
WHEREAS, United Record Pressing continued to expand and moved into a new facility on Allied Drive in 2017. A Metropolitan Historical Commission marker was erected at its Chestnut Street location in 2023, and the “Motown Suite” continues to serve as a location for company meetings and events; and
WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper for the Metropolitan Council to recognize United Record Pressing for its 75 years of operation and its legacy of creating timeless vinyl albums across genres and decades.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:
Section 1. That the Metropolitan County Council hereby goes on record as honoring the 75th anniversary of the creation of United Record Pressing.
Section 2. This resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.