Taylor Swift’s new album has helped fuel the highest weekly vinyl sales in 30 years – but is our rediscovered love of record ownership environmentally reckless?
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), the plastic traditionally used to make records, isn’t great for the planet, and concerns have also been raised about packaging. vinyl sales have increased in recent years.
Rou Reynolds, frontman of chart-topping rock group Enter Shikari, believes that front-line artists need to take some responsibility to “push” change.
“The bigger you are as an artist, the more influence you have, the more you can push things forward and accelerate progression,” he says.
In an interview with Billboard in March, Billie Eilish criticized how “waste is waste” when “some of the biggest artists in the world” produce “40 different vinyl packages” that each have “a different unique thing just to make you keep buying.” more”.
“It’s a reasonable criticism,” Reynolds says, “but I think it’s going to pretty much melt away once it becomes standard to use BioVinyl, for example—that really takes away the possibility of criticism.”
Rather than making records from regular PVC pellets, in the last few years it has become possible to use renewable sources such as cooking oil or wood pulp.
Pictured on stage in 2023, Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds says artists must lead the way. Image: Graham Finney/Cover Images via AP
“Traditional vinyl is an oil-based product,” Reynolds explains. “No one really wants to support the extraction of more fossil fuels.”
Enter Shikari now insist that all their records are made with BioVinyl, and Reynolds is optimistic that as more artists demand what their records are made of, this will become the new norm.
“A lot of independent artists like myself, we can start these fires, then it spreads and before you know it, it becomes an industry standard.”
“The progress is incredible”
Karen Emanuel, CEO of Key Production Group, has been in the industry for 35 years
The leading voices in vinyl production want the music industry to listen.
“Together with the Vinyl Alliance and the Vinyl Records Manufacturers Association, we deal with the entire production chain,” says Karen Emanuel, chief executive of Key Production, the UK’s largest physical music production broker.
“I’ve probably been in the business for about 35 years and the progress that’s been made is incredible. A lot of the big plastics companies have found a way to replace fossil fuel elements with PVC.” [which] can mean up to a 90% reduction in vinyl’s carbon footprint.”
The hook is included in the price at the moment.
“It’s a little bit more expensive to make, but if enough people are making with it, then the price will come down … it’s something we’re really trying to push people to do.”
Would fans be happy to pay more for a greener product?
Lee Jeffries of Sonic Wax in Leicestershire owns the world’s most expensive Motown record. Image: Sonic Wax
Lee Jefferies, owner of Leicestershire-based vinyl pressing company Sonic Wax Pressing, is such a big vinyl lover that he spent £100,000 to buy the world’s most valuable Motown record.
“In the end, everything works from the retail back,” he says.
However, a recent survey by Key Production found that more than two-thirds (69%) of vinyl buyers said they would be encouraged to buy more if records were produced with a reduced environmental impact.
The findings also revealed that the vast majority, 77%, of regular vinyl customers are willing to pay a premium for reduced impact products, signaling significant market demand for eco-friendly alternatives.
Is there a bigger problem?
Ultimately, consumers, artists or labels will have to bear the cost if vinyl is to be produced more sustainably.
But while a big old piece of PVC might seem like the least green option, are we getting to a point where we should also be looking the other way?
Figures from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimate global vinyl sales last year at around 80 million – using the Independent Music Association’s IMPALA music emissions calculator, which works out to produce around 156,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions .
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UK vinyl sales at highest level since 1990
Vinyl added to the typical shopping cart used in the inflation calculation
If you compare that to streaming, with Spotify alone – responsible for around a third of the market – its own estimates of global carbon emissions were 280,000 tonnes last year, with huge amounts of electricity used to power storage servers.
For Enter Shikari’s Reynolds, the potential is to make vinyl more environmentally friendly.
“It’s the same quality, the same look, you really wouldn’t notice the difference, which is incredible,” he says. “I think that speaks to, you know, a lot of the time when people think that society is going to go through a transformation, we think we’re going to lose luxury … but I think this is just an example of why that is .” it is not so.
“You know, all it takes is a little bit of thinking and adapting, and then some acceptance… it’s super exciting.”
Maybe now is the time for the music industry to take notice.