The first vinyl LP was pressed by Columbia Records in 1948, incidentally the same year that Ozzy Osbourne was born. Now, in 2025, there’s Tiny Vinyl, a new four-inch vinyl record format. The Blizzard of Ozz passed his entire 77-year span without seeing the LP get really, really tiny. Again.
See, Japan launched a three-inch vinyl format in 2003 that was (briefly) resurrected in 2019. Tiny Vinyl hopes to stand out by offering four-inch records to all and sundry. The stated reason for its creation is to make a format that is “more aligned with how artists are making and releasing music in the streaming era.”
That’s some Tiny Vinyl
It’s not really a ridiculous idea on the face of it, especially considering that one of the company founders, Neil Kohler, was involved in turning Funko statues into the phenomenon they are today. The concept started as an LP that would fit inside a Funko Pop box and expanded from there.
Not literally, of course. The record format retains its original size concept, but it’s designed to be entirely playable on a standard turntable at 33 RPM. The player’s tone arm just needs to be able to reach the centre of the platter, something that’s achievable by turning off the auto-stop feature. Each of the customisable mini-discs (customisable by artists, not by you. Calm down.) holds just four minutes of audio per side, so you probably shouldn’t expect your favourite Prog Rock band to embrace the format.
More popular genres that are lighter on lyrical depth and heavier on focus-group testing could find Tiny Vinyl an attractive proposition, however. “We will make Tiny Vinyl for anyone, any artist or label that brings us music they have the rights to, and they can distribute that however they want,” said Kohler.
Local artists can reach out to the company regarding participation, but the major push for the moment is confined to the States. American retailer Target is the latest er… target for an audience for Tiny Vinyl records. The collectable aspect of the pressings is being played up, with the company’s website explaining that each recycled vinyl record “has a ‘TV number’ printed on the package and on the record itself to easily verify its authenticity.”
As long as the format doesn’t resurrect the last few remaining hipsters from their thrifted coffins, this new collectable product could be fun to play with. Unlike Funko Pops, at least the Tiny Vinyl actually does something.
