Is buying vinyl bad for the planet – and what can be done about it?

Published

4 months ago

May 19, 2024

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Taylor Swift’s new album helped fuel the highest weekly vinyl sales in 30 years – but is our rediscovered love of owning records environmentally reckless?

PVC (poly vinyl chloride), the plastic from which records have traditionally been made, isn’t great for the planet, and concerns have also been raised over packaging as vinyl sales have risedn in recent years.

Rou Reynolds, frontman of chart-topping rock band Enter Shikari, believes leading artists need to shoulder some responsibility to “push forward” 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 criticised how “wasteful it is” when “some of the biggest artists in the world” make “40 different vinyl packages”, each with “a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more”.

“Its reasonable criticism,” says Reynolds, “but I think it’ll basically dissipate as soon as it becomes the standard to use BioVinyl, for instance – that will really take away the possibility of criticism”.

Rather than make records out of regular PVC pellets, over the last few years it has become possible to use renewable sources such as cooking oil or wood pulp.

“Traditional vinyl is an oil-based product,” Reynolds explains. “No one really wants to support the extraction of any more fossil fuels.”

Enter Shikari now insist all their records are made using BioVinyl, and Reynolds is optimistic that if more artists make demands about what their records are made from, it would become the new norm.

“A lot of independent artists, like myself, we can light these fires, then it spreads and before you know it, it will become the industry standard.”

‘The advances are incredible’

Leading voices within vinyl production want the music industry to listen.

“Along with the Vinyl Alliance and the Vinyl Records Manufacturers Association, we’re looking at the whole manufacturing chain,” says Karen Emanuel, chief executive of Key Production, the UK’s largest broker for physical music production.

“I’ve been in the business probably about 35 years and the advances that have been made, it’s incredible. A lot of the big plastics companies, for PVC they’ve found a way replacing the fossil fuel elements [which] could mean as much as a 90% reduction in the carbon footprint of the vinyl.”

The catch, at the moment, is the cost.

“It’s a bit more expensive to manufacture but if enough people manufacture with it then the price point will come down… it’s something that we’re really trying to push people towards.”

Would fans be happy to pay more for a greener product?

Lee Jefferies, the owner of Leicestershire-based vinyl pressing plant Sonic Wax Pressing, is such a big vinyl lover, he spent £100,000 buying the world’s most valuable Motown record.

“Ultimately everything works from retail back,” he says “And with retail prices already being quite high on vinyl it’s very hard for people to have the extra money to buy biodegradable vinyl.”

But a recent survey conducted by Key Production found more than two thirds (69%) of vinyl buyers indicated they would be encouraged to buy more if the records were made 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, signalling a significant market demand for eco-friendly alternatives.

Is there a bigger problem?

Ultimately, either the consumer, artists or labels will have to shoulder the cost if vinyl is to be made more sustainably.

But while a big old hunk of PVC might feel like the least green option, are we getting ourselves in a spin when we should also be looking in another direction?

Figures from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) put global vinyl sales for last year at about 80 million – using the IMPALA indepdent music companies association’s music emissions calculator, that works out at producing around 156k tonnes of CO2 emissions.

If you compare that to streaming, with Spotify alone – responsible for about a third of the market – its own estimates for its global carbon emissions were 280k tonnes last year, with vast amounts of electricity being used to power its data storage servers.

For Enter Shikari’s Reynolds, the potential to make vinyl greener is exciting.

“It has the same quality, the same appearance, you really wouldn’t notice the difference, which is incredible,” he says. “I think it speaks to, you know, a lot of the time people think that the transition society is about to go through, we think we’re going to lose luxuries… but I think this is just an example of why that’s not the case.

“You know, all it takes is some thought and some adaptation, and then some adoption… it’s super exciting.”

Perhaps now it’s time for the music industry to take note.

Entertainment

Artist behind ‘disturbing’ sculpture says it’s not intended to cause upset

Published

2 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Artist behind 'disturbing' sculpture says it's not intended to cause upset

The artist who created a sculpture which has been called “disturbing” and “shocking” says he’s been “surprised” at the backlash but welcomes difficult conversations it might inspire.

Jason deCaires Taylor told Sky News: “I don’t strive of my artwork to divide people or cause upset. But I do try to talk about issues that are pertinent and relevant to our current times.”

The 50-year-old artist has a history of producing political work but says this one contained “no political intentions at all” and is based on the painting which inspired Shakespeare‘s tragic heroine Ophelia.

The Alluvia – which is made from recycled glass and steel and features LEDs which light up at night – was installed in the River Stour, in Taylor’s hometown of Canterbury in Kent around a week ago.

However, comments posted on Canterbury City Council’s official Facebook page have included accusations that the work is “tone-deaf” and “offensive”.

One wrote: “I can’t be the only person who finds this deeply offensive. She looks like a drowned woman. How did the council not see the link to women as victims of crime or the sad fact so many drown off the Kent coast as refugees.”

Another said: “I find this sculpture absolutely appalling. It’s not just offensive, it’s downright disturbing. The imagery of a submerged figure, reminiscent of a drowning victim, is both morbid and utterly tone-deaf given the tragic drownings that occur along our coastlines. What on earth were the council thinking?”

Others stood up for the work, with one commenting: “More people seem to be “disturbed”, “offended” and “shocked” by this than they do by images of actual drownings which are happening daily along our coasts. Rather than wasting your hate on an artwork that is designed to provoke, why not put some of that energy into something constructive?”

Another wrote: “It’s a beautiful piece of art and nowhere near as disturbing as the previous sculptures that it has replaced. What kind of world do we live in when anything that offends or “triggers” someone, must be removed??”

The sculpture had replaced two similar female forms, also created by Taylor, which had been in the water since 2008 but which had been damaged due to dredging.

‘If it fosters care and sympathy, that’s good’

Taylor told Sky News: “I was surprised… 99.9% of all the feedback that I’ve received has been very positive… But at the same time, I appreciate everybody takes something different from everything they see.”

While he says there is “no connection” between the work and the ongoing migrant crisis taking place further along the Kent coast, he hopes it could inspire empathy for what’s happening out in the Channel.

He said: “It’s an extremely tragic situation, and I don’t think ignoring it is the solution. If [this work] can foster any kind of care and sympathy for that situation, then I think that’s a good thing.”

More than 21,000 people arrived in the UK in small boats between January and September, according to government figures, with at least 45 people dying in Channel crossings this year.

Taylor also said the fact the subject is a young woman is because it draws reference from Sir John Everett Millais’s celebrated painting, on display at Tate Britain.

‘Art without questions is pointless’

Some of Taylor’s past sculptures have raised issues around the climate crisis, Brexit and the plight of those risking their lives on the perilous migration route from West Africa to Spain.

Taylor says: “Art should ask questions. They should make people think about things that should elicit emotions, that’s really critical.

“If things were ignored and if you tried to please everybody with all your artwork, I think you’d make something very benign and quite frankly, pretty pointless.”

He also feels our age of information overload could be part of the reason for the negative feedback.

“We’re so inundated with images and media, with having our phones interrupting us and screens everywhere we look that people look for divisiveness and things that cause clickbait. I think there is an element of people sort of seeking out controversy.”

Taylor said the majority of negative comments online had come from people who had not been to Canterbury and seen the work in real life, with one call for the statue’s removal coming all the way from Orkney.

Responding directly to calls for his work to be taken out of the river, he said: “People are perfectly in their rights to have [an] opinion. But I would urge them to go and see it first.”

‘A dead body doesn’t light up at night’

Chair of Canterbury Commemoration Society Stewart Ross, the charity that commissioned the work, told Sky News: “Some people find it offensive and shocking, we have no objection to that. All public art is open to discussion”.

Comparing calls for the work to be removed to the destruction of art during the Reformation, he said: “I feel strongly about this [call for censorship]. It’s what the Taliban do. If you don’t like it, don’t look.”

Mr Ross said the “confected anger” around the sculpture was “unnecessary” and that the charity was simply “trying to do its best,” adding: “People have been comparing it to a dead body, but I have yet to meet a dead body that lights up in the night”.

Taylor, who has been working as an artist for over 25 years, has sculptures in marine locations around the world including Australia, Mexico, Grenada and Norway. Prices for his sculptures start at around £1,300.

He first donated the two original Alluvia figures to the city of Canterbury in 2008.

Entertainment

Punjabi music sees huge rise in streams – but not all fans are happy

Published

14 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Punjabi music sees huge rise in streams - but not all fans are happy

Streams of Punjabi music have seen a massive rise, but some fans aren’t pleased with the direction the genre is heading in.

The 2002-hit Mundian To Bach Ke by UK-based producer Panjabi MC is what put the music on the map for the very first time.

Since then, the music has changed, and many more people are listening.

Data from Spotify shared exclusively with Sky News reveals that UK streams have risen by 286% over the past five years and a massive 2077% globally.

“The signs are there that Punjabi music is only going to continue to grow in influence around the world,” said Safiya Lambie Knight, head of music, UK & Ireland at Spotify.

The blend with hip-hop alongside collaborations with mainstream artists such as Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran has captivated listeners, regardless of their spoken language.

With billions of views and streams, one of the top-performing artists in the genre right now is Karan Aujla.

Originally from a village called Ghurala in India, the 27-year-old’s quick-witted bars and innovative melodies helped him make history earlier this year as the first Punjabi artist to win a Juno Award.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News after his show at London’s O2 arena, Aujla said: “I’m just a kid that came from nothing, from a small village so if you told me 10 years before I’ll be performing at the O2 London and selling out the whole arena, I wouldn’t know if that’d be possible, but we did it today.

“So if anybody out there is watching me, just know that it’s all possible.

Aujla’s ability to fuse genres such as hip-hop and R&B with Punjabi folk music has earned him a fanbase of non-Punjabis too.

“I feel like music itself has no language, and it’s just so lovely how somebody that doesn’t know your language could still vibe to your music. And I’ve seen that with my own eyes at my shows and in my DMs, or like on Facebook or wherever, when people send me videos of jamming to my songs, but they’re from a whole different country.”

He added: “I feel like Punjabi music will be one of the biggest things in this whole world in the next few years, and I believe in that.”

But as the genre has grown over the last few years, some of the top singers have come under increased scrutiny for promoting and glorifying drugs, violence and gun culture through their lyrics and music videos.

It was this trend that forced one of the genre’s biggest radio stations – Panjab Radio, based in London – to ban some singers from their airwaves.

The station’s managing director, Surjit Singh Ghuman MBE, who made the decision three years ago, said: “My personal belief is that lots of youngsters went from Punjab to Western countries, especially Canada and America, where there’s a big drug scene there, there’s a big gun culture there, and I think it all stemmed from there.

“It makes me feel sad because that is not our culture. Guns and drugs is not Punjabi culture.”

Mr Ghuman said that when the station started broadcasting in 2000: “We didn’t need to listen to the whole song, but now with the new music, we have to listen to every single song before it goes onto the system because there’s lots of swear words.

“I think it’s all about the views now. It doesn’t matter what the message is you’re giving to the youngsters or the community, it is to do with earning money.”

But Mr Ghuman is hopeful “positive changes are coming” and that singers will “start to focus their songs on the rich Punjabi culture rather than violence”.

However, while there’s hope, the controversies don’t seem to be fading.

Just last month, singer AP Dhillon, who’s signed to the same record label as Taylor Swift, released a song called Old Money, which contains violent scenes throughout its music video, so much so that it required a warning at the start.

This month, Dhillon’s home in Canada was shot at several times and vehicles were set alight. Nobody is believed to have been injured in the attack.

Preliminary investigation suggests that this was a targeted event according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who are still investigating the suspects in the attack to establish a motive.

Sky News asked AP Dhillon’s team for a comment.

For now, the UK stands as a quieter but important player in the world of Punjabi music – a place where the focus remains on cultural celebration rather than controversy.

While controversies have accompanied its rise, the genre’s ability to evolve and resonate with diverse audiences suggests a bright future ahead.

Entertainment

Lily Allen says she had her children for ‘all the wrong reasons’

Published

1 day ago

September 21, 2024

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Lily Allen says she had her children “for all the wrong reasons,” at a “high pressure” point in her career when she felt “overwhelmed”.

The singer and actress had her two daughters, Marnie, 12 and Ethel, 11, with her ex-husband Sam Cooper when she was in her mid-20s.

By the time she became a mum, she’d already had hit singles including Smile and The Fear, released two studio albums and received a Brit Award for best British female solo artist.

Speaking about motherhood on the BBC podcast Miss Me?, which Allen hosts with her long-time friend Miquita Oliver, she said: “I think I had children for all the wrong reasons, really.

“Because I was yearning for unconditional love, which I haven’t felt in my life since I was a child.”

The now 39-year-old star added: “And also, my career was at such high speed, high pressure, and I felt like very overwhelmed by what was happening. I just didn’t get much respite you know?

“And I felt like the only way to stop people hassling me was to say, ‘It’s not about me, actually this is about this other person that’s inside me’.

When asked by Oliver if it worked, Allen says: “Yeah, they did leave me alone. I don’t think I really understood what was happening, what I got myself into.”

The daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, she went on to discuss her own childhood.

“My mum, bless her, had children really early as well, and she really struggled. But she doesn’t really talk about the struggle. And so… She inadvertently gaslit me into thinking it was, you know, easy.

“You just sort of throw the kid over your shoulder and you get on with it.

“Her job was very static, and in one place and went to an office and mine wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t easy. It just wasn’t easy.”

The ‘nasty scars’ caused by absent parents

Allen previously told the Radio Times podcast that while she loves her children, having them “ruined her career”.

She said her decision to prioritise them over her pop career was a decision she made so as not to inflict the “nasty scars” of being an “absent” parent onto them.

She also said the myth of having it all “really annoyed” as it simply was not true.

Allen, whose younger brother is Game Of Thrones actor Alfie Allen, married Stranger Things star David Harbour in 2020.

Away from her music career, Allen has branched out into acting over the last few years, starring in two plays in London’s West End, and winning a role in Sky drama Dreamland last year.