United Record Pressing

United Record Pressing, Inc. was established in 1970 in Nashville, Tennessee, by Joe Dunn, Ozell Simpkins, and Joe Talbot. In an effort to consolidate record manufacturing in Nashville, the company united several local pressing operations, including Southern Plastics, Precision Record Pressing, Inc. and MFP Incorporated. The first products displaying proprietary United pressing matrices appeared in 1972, with some client rosters and matrix chronologies upheld and continued under their former partnerships.

Over the years, URP stockpiled record presses acquired from the closure of other US manufacturers, including Dixie Record Pressing Inc. in 2000. On June 1, 2016, United acquired Bill Smith Custom Records. In February 2020 URP acquired sixteen additional presses from the closure of Rainbo Records making URP the largest record manufacturer in the USA with a capacity of 60,000 records per day.

Their internal numbers used for the projects (often followed by m or M):
L-##### - 12" records (starting in 2000, probably beginning with L-11001)
T-##### - 10" records (starting in 2002, probably beginning with T-40001)
UR #### - 7" records (from 1972-1984, highest numbered one is in the 4000s)
U-##### - 7" records (starting in 1984, probably beginning with U-10001)
These numbers can be added to LCCN.

Records pressed by United Record Pressing often contain an etched "ⓤ" or "Ⓤ" (U in a circle) in the runout groove area.

During the 1970s, United was a contract presser for RCA. Pressings may be identified by the two-step label pressing rings, and a stamped "U" in the runouts adjacent to the struck-through RCA plant's identifier. See 5042002 for example.