First the rise, then the fall? As the vinyl revival has become a defining part of the cultural zeitgeist, the inevitable backlash has begun, courtesy of Billie Eilish. Eilish attracted controversy last week when she attacked the practice of releasing multiple versions of the same record with different colours and designs, resulting in records that look like anything from a pastel milky way to an uncleaned brush palette. But Eilish does not go far enough. To truly address this unsustainable practice, the only solution is a complete ban on new vinyl record production.
Eilish’s comment was immediately applied to Taylor Swift, who will release her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department, with four different coloured records, each including a different bonus track, to encourage zealous Swifties to collect all four versions. Of the practice, designed to push up sales numbers, Eilish said, “it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making fucking 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”
All it takes is the purchase of one record, however, to contribute to the climate crisis. The production of most records is shockingly unsustainable, with environmental protection agencies in the US and UK already looking into banning vinyl PVC. If so, good riddance: the average music consumer will no longer be complicit in the petro-capitalism that has seeped into vinyl.
The main ingredient in a vinyl record is plastic polyvinyl chloride, which is derived from crude oil. The refining process produces an enormous amount of toxic wastewater, often released into surrounding waterways. The PVC industry is notoriously secretive. What we can be sure of, however, is that vinyl is derived from oil, and a proportion of every penny spent on every record goes into the pockets of the oil giants.
Such is the conclusion of Sir Robin Miller, the producer known as “the man behind Sade,” who is “baffled that no large record company has had the backing of a big-selling artist to stop making physical records,” lamenting their “hypocritical bandwagonery.” Miller hits the nail on the head, or rather, the stylus upon the groove. In the social media age, artists’ relationships with fans are more important than ever. To uphold their socially conscious credentials, it is time for major acts to get out of bed with the oil industry.
Vinyl remains a crucial lifeline for independent artists to make money from their music. If we cannot break our vinyl dependency, recycled vinyl could be the way forward. Artists such as Eilish and Adrianne Lenker have started releasing records made from recycled plastic, drastically reducing waste and bringing vinyl out of the hands of Big Oil. Though debatably of lower sound quality, this hardly matters when 50 per cent of record buyers do not own a record player. Recycled vinyl is more accessible than ever, as a slew of new vinyl pressing companies promise to replicate that raw vinyl feel with reused materials.
In this case, perhaps the argument to ban vinyl records is overkill. But until the music industry can get its act together, listeners ought to get behind Billie Eilish and stick to recycled records, or, even better for independent retailers, vintage records. This is the only way fans can continue to enjoy their favourite artists without also encouraging the scourge of the oil industry. It is time for vinyl enthusiasts to wash their oil-stained hands and separate the art from the petro-capitalist complex.
“Spin | Jack Johnson vinyl” by Trevor Manternach is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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Billie Eilish is right: Vinyl is cancelled
First the rise, then the fall? As the vinyl revival has become a defining part of the cultural zeitgeist, the inevitable backlash has begun, courtesy of Billie Eilish. Eilish attracted controversy last week when she attacked the practice of releasing multiple versions of the same record with different colours and designs, resulting in records that look like anything from a pastel milky way to an uncleaned brush palette. But Eilish does not go far enough. To truly address this unsustainable practice, the only solution is a complete ban on new vinyl record production.
Eilish’s comment was immediately applied to Taylor Swift, who will release her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department, with four different coloured records, each including a different bonus track, to encourage zealous Swifties to collect all four versions. Of the practice, designed to push up sales numbers, Eilish said, “it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making fucking 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”
All it takes is the purchase of one record, however, to contribute to the climate crisis. The production of most records is shockingly unsustainable, with environmental protection agencies in the US and UK already looking into banning vinyl PVC. If so, good riddance: the average music consumer will no longer be complicit in the petro-capitalism that has seeped into vinyl.
The main ingredient in a vinyl record is plastic polyvinyl chloride, which is derived from crude oil. The refining process produces an enormous amount of toxic wastewater, often released into surrounding waterways. The PVC industry is notoriously secretive. What we can be sure of, however, is that vinyl is derived from oil, and a proportion of every penny spent on every record goes into the pockets of the oil giants.
Such is the conclusion of Sir Robin Miller, the producer known as “the man behind Sade,” who is “baffled that no large record company has had the backing of a big-selling artist to stop making physical records,” lamenting their “hypocritical bandwagonery.” Miller hits the nail on the head, or rather, the stylus upon the groove. In the social media age, artists’ relationships with fans are more important than ever. To uphold their socially conscious credentials, it is time for major acts to get out of bed with the oil industry.
Vinyl remains a crucial lifeline for independent artists to make money from their music. If we cannot break our vinyl dependency, recycled vinyl could be the way forward. Artists such as Eilish and Adrianne Lenker have started releasing records made from recycled plastic, drastically reducing waste and bringing vinyl out of the hands of Big Oil. Though debatably of lower sound quality, this hardly matters when 50 per cent of record buyers do not own a record player. Recycled vinyl is more accessible than ever, as a slew of new vinyl pressing companies promise to replicate that raw vinyl feel with reused materials.
In this case, perhaps the argument to ban vinyl records is overkill. But until the music industry can get its act together, listeners ought to get behind Billie Eilish and stick to recycled records, or, even better for independent retailers, vintage records. This is the only way fans can continue to enjoy their favourite artists without also encouraging the scourge of the oil industry. It is time for vinyl enthusiasts to wash their oil-stained hands and separate the art from the petro-capitalist complex.
“Spin | Jack Johnson vinyl” by Trevor Manternach is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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