Musician and designer Yuri Suzuki has collaborated with Japanese education company Gakken to create a cute little record cutting machine that gets music-making consumers cutting their own five-inch vinyl records in a few short minutes.
Vinyl record consumption has been enjoying something of a resurge of late, with nearly 19 million vinyl albums being sold in the US during 2019. Popular though the format is proving to be, it cannot complete with streaming, which still rules the music consumption roost. But there’s been enough sustained growth over the last decade and more that old classics are being repressed and new releases from artists and labels are taking up more and more space in high street music stores.
For unsigned musicians or music-loving hobbyists though, cutting vinyl can be expensive. Last year we saw a Kickstarter project attract nearly half a million euros to bring a relatively inexpensive home cutter to life. The retail price once it goes into production – though that could be some way off as the Phonocut has yet to ship to backers – is €1,999, which is still quite pricey. But Suzuki’s Instant Record Cutting Machine offers a much, much cheaper way to cut vinyl at home.
