All fans know that Nashville is Music City, but have you ever taken a peek behind the scenes at the businesses that are the building blocks of the music industry?
Next month, a new CNBC cross-platform franchise called “Cities of Success” will take a deep dive into the cities that have become industry power centers, and they’re kicking things off by putting the spotlight on Nashville and country music.
One of the hubs that gets a spotlight in the one-hour special is United Record Pressing, which became the biggest vinyl business in North America by pressing the catalog of some of country music’s biggest artists. It was here that Taylor Swift pressed the bulk of her catalog of albums to date.
Before the episode runs, Taste of Country readers can exclusively get a sneak peek at the company, as well as an interview with CEO Mark Michaels, who speaks about the daunting prospect of investing in vinyl in 2008, decades after the heyday of the format.
“I questioned what I did all the time,” Michaels admits about his decision to get behind the wheel of United Record Pressing.
But when major chains like Target and Walmart began stocking vinyl records from big contemporary artists like Swift, the format saw a massive bump in popularity. Today, the company presses approximately 40,000 records a day.
The “Cities of Success” Nashville special will air in full on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 10PM ET/PT on CNBC. Also featured in the episode is an interview with Garth Brooks, who will discuss his early days in Nashville.
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Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak