Jacaranda launches affordable vinyl cutting for indie artists

Fat Monkey Studios brings its UK operation to Jacaranda Baltic to provide small-run vinyl cutting.

Today, Jacaranda Records unveiled a joint venture with Fat Monkey Studios that gives bands the ability to walk into Jacaranda Baltic and cut short-run vinyl without the high costs.

In 2014, the UK’s vinyl revival began with more than one million vinyl records being sold for the first time since 1996. It’s expected to reach 8.6 million records by 2026. Regardless of this growing popularity, many artists remain priced out of the vinyl market due to high minimum order requirements. This new partnership aims to remove that barrier.

Fat Monkey Studios will provide vinyl runs from a single record up to 50 copies, which are available in 7”, 10” and 12” formats. Artists will be able to leave Fat Monkey Studios with a small batch of records ready to sell to their fans, ideally with many also putting a few copies directly into the racks of Jacaranda Records.

Jacaranda Baltic provides a base for Fat Monkey Studios and also houses the UK’s largest album launch venue and one of the two Jacaranda Records stores. This creative space can allow artists to cut vinyl, sell records, and launch an album with a live show all in one place. Currently, there is no other facility like this in the UK.

This innovative collaboration was created by Graham Stanley, Director of Jacaranda Records, and Freddie Barker, who describes himself as the Chief Ape of Fat Monkey Studios.

The first release will be announced next week and will be exclusive to Jacaranda Records Record Store Day customers.

Jacaranda Records utilises Fat Monkey Studios for its Jac Cuts project, an initiative where Jacaranda works with artists to create unique releases and special editions of existing records.

Graham Stanley, Director of Jacaranda Records, said:

“The beauty of this partnership is that we can put artists’ releases on our website for pre-order and cut the exact number of records sold. It removes the risk for artists who simply can’t afford to commit to large vinyl pressings.”

Freddie Barker, Chief Ape of Fat Monkey Studios, said:

“I encourage bands, singer-songwriters and DJs to come in and see the process for themselves. I have a very open-door policy. Artists record in studios but rarely see what happens at the cutting stage. We want to change that.”