| National Vinyl Record Day is this August 12, and one of the country’s largest record-pressing plants is looking to celebrate in its hometown. Memphis Record Pressing, which recently underwent a multimillion-dollar expansion that transformed it into the largest vinyl manufacturer by capacity in North America, is marking National Vinyl Record Day with a giveaway for record enthusiasts. In partnership with local record stores Goner Records (2152  |
| Young Avenue, goner-records.com), Shangri-la Records (1916 Madison, shangri.com), and River City Records (101 S. Main St., rivercityrecordshop.com), MRP is giving away a limited-edition, specially-designed National Vinyl Record Day commemorative pin. The pins will be available on a first-come-first-served basis at those stores. MRP employees will also be sporting the pins at work in the week leading up to National Vinyl Record Day. “National Vinyl Record Day, obviously, means a lot to us, and we thought this was a fun way to mark the occasion and thank all the vinyl enthusiasts who have helped our industry thrive in recent years,” says MRP CEO and co-founder Brandon Seavers. This year’s National Vinyl Record Day comes as the vinyl renaissance that began almost two decades ago has reached a new milestone. Vinyl record sales have been increasing steadily for 17 years, reaching a fevered pitch during the pandemic. Last year, vinyl album sales overtook CD sales for the first time since 1987 with 43.46 million copies sold. MRPs growth in recent years has been equally impressive. An offshoot of defunct CD manufacturer AudioGraphc Masterworks, MRP has expanded dramatically since opening its doors in 2015. A recently-completed, two-year expansion has tripled the size of the company, bringing the total number of presses up to 52 and staff to more than 400. The company is on track to produce 20-25 million records this year. When running at full capacity, MRP can press as many as 125,000 records a day or more than 45 million a year, making it the largest vinyl record manufacturer by volume in North America. About National Vinyl Record Day California radio host and vinyl enthusiast Gary Freiberg started National Vinyl Record Day in 2002 to promote the “preservation of the cultural influence, the recordings, and the cover art of the vinyl record.” The date was chosen to honor the reported date in 1877 when Thomas Edison invented the first phonograph. This year’s celebration comes on the heels in June of the 75th anniversary of LP. Unlike Record Store Day, a for-profit group whose focus is to sell music of any format, the goal of the 501(c)3 nonprofit Vinyl Record Day is to increase awareness of the importance to preserve our audio history recorded on vinyl and to encourage a day in the middle of summer when friends and family gather together with their favorite music. About Memphis Record Pressing Founded in 2014, Memphis Record Pressing (MRP) has quickly grown to become a global leader in LP vinyl production and one of North America's largest vinyl pressing plants, with vinyl output increasing from less than 1 million LPs in 2015 to over 8.5 million in 2022. Fueled by increased global attention on the vinyl resurgence, an insatiable appetite by vinyl consumers, and a strategic partnership with GZ Media (the world's largest vinyl manufacturer), there’s no end in sight. MRP's goal is to make the highest quality record, with the fastest turnarounds in the industry, backed by the best customer service around. MRP is proud of its Memphis Music heritage and dedicated to keeping all things vinyl alive and spinning for many years. |
Memphis Record Pressing Gears Up for Aug. 12 National Vinyl Record Day
