Brandon Seavers, CEO of Memphis Record Pressing (MRP), stands behind his desk, next to a wall of never-ending vinyl records, and tells the story of how he helped grow North America’s soon-to-be largest vinyl record plant, right here in Tennessee.
From CDs to Vinyl
From 1997 to 2014, Seavers and his business partner, Mark Yoshida, operated Audiographic Masterworks, a CD and DVD manufacturing company, out of Memphis, Tennessee.
“In the beginning, we didn’t even know how to do a purchase order,” Seavers said. “And I decided I was going to be the graphic designer, but I had never been a graphic designer. I bought a computer, and I was like, ‘I can figure this out,’ and we did. We just grew from there.”
At the end of 2013, Seavers and Yoshida were approached by one of their customers, Fat Possum Records, and together they decided to fill a gap in the resurging world of vinyl manufacturing.
“We knew we were going to have to redirect our focus because clearly the optical media industry was declining,” Seavers said. “We were like, ‘Why don’t we give it a shot?’”
After buying a former pressing plant in New Jersey, they brought all the gear back to Memphis and worked hard to build out the necessary infrastructure required to power vinyl production, while simultaneously scouring the nation in search of someone to bring the aged machines back to life. In January of 2015, MRP officially opened to the public.
“Making the record was just so incredibly complicated,” Seavers said. “Just the process of getting the equipment rebuilt, installed, getting all the infrastructure that powers the equipment, those were challenging things.”
Memphis Record Pressing Finds Its Groove
Despite the difficult process of getting started, the opening of MRP was welcome news. Seavers said his phone rang every day for a year with people from all over the world on the other line wanting MRP to make their records.
Since 2015, MRP’s growth has been dizzying. In their first year, they made 800,000 records. In 2022, they’re on track to make about 10.5 million, a 1,200 percent increase.
So, what’s the reason behind the resurgence of vinyl records? According to Seavers, it comes down to two things: ownership and collectability.
“What we’ve seen is a drive back to ownership because music is such a vital part of who we are,” Seavers said. “Combine that with collectability – you want to collect things that belong to the passions you have, whatever art form that might be.”
In June 2016, MRP joined forces with GZ Media from the Czech Republic, the largest manufacturer of vinyl records in the world. They wanted to have a U.S. manufacturer footprint, and with the opening of MRP being the talk of the town at the time, it proved to be a perfect fit.
On March 24, 2020, MRP shut down for 38 business days due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They reopened on May 4, 2020. During that time, they couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Is this the end?’
The short answer? No, not even close.
“By the time we got to July of 2020, we were getting orders like we had never imagined,” Seavers said. “It was like the floodgates had opened. It was insanity.”