In his performance at Arizona State, Andy plays a record of himself reading The Great Gatsby.
In the late 70's, how much would it cost to make such a record? I mean, they didn't have blank albums so Andy probably had to go somewhere and have people record him at a studio.
There were acetate blank records available on expensive home recording machines and "Make Your Own Record" Voice O Graph booths popular in the 40s - 60s. In the early days they cost 35 cents to make a record. Most booths were in big cities and could be found at arcades, fairs, department stores, and USOs. They can be seen in many old movies at such places. The booths were manufactured until at least the late 50s and some were still in service in the 70s/80s. The rise of cassette tapes spelled their end. In their heyday the Coney Island arcades had almost two dozen of these booths and the Empire State Building had one. It's possible Kaufman could have found one of the afore mentioned machines at some arcade or working museum to make the record.
The records were soft and wear out quickly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetate_disc
Web queries currently state that there aren't any of the machines known to be still out there for use.
Like the other guy said, back then they had booths you could cut a record in.
shareIn the late '70s?
No, there were no booths where you could cut a record left by then. Cassette tapes had become the dominant medium for personal recording.
There were plenty of small studios and mastering facilities that could cut an acetate for you, though. Indeed, there still are some, though not nearly as many. The tidiest way to do it would be to record it yourself at home (on cassette, in the '70s) and give the recording to the guy cutting the acetate. The cost would be around $50-75 nowadays, probably more like $20 then, possibly less.