Is buying vinyl bad for the planet – and what can be done about it?
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.
Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Society is leading the vinyl boom. Pic: Beth Garrabrant
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.
Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds, pictured on stage in 2023, says artists need to lead the way. Pic: Graham Finney/Cover Images via AP
“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’
Karen Emanuel, chief executive of Key Production Group, has worked in the industry for 35 years
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 Jeffries, from Sonic Wax, in Leicestershire, owns the world’s most expensive Motown record. Pic: Sonic Wax
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.
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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.
The creator of an AI actress has told Sky News that synthetic performers will get more actors working, rather than steal jobs.
AI production studio Particle6 has ruffled feathers in Hollywood by unveiling Tilly Norwood – a 20-something actress created by artificial intelligence.
Speaking to Sky News’ Dominic Waghorn, actor and comedian Eline Van der Velden – who founded Particle6 – insisted Norwood is “not meant to take jobs in the traditional film”.
AI entertainment is “developing as a completely separate genre”, she said, adding: “And that’s where Tilly is meant to stay. She’s meant to stay in the AI genre and be a star in that.”
“I don’t want her to take real actors’ jobs,” she continued. “I wanted to have her own creative path.”
Norwood has been labelled “really, really scary” by Mary Poppins Returns star Emily Blunt, while the US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA said in a statement: “Tilly Norwood is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers – without permission or compensation.”
Responding to the criticism, Ms Van der Velden argued that Hollywood is “going to have to learn how to work with [AI] going forward”.
“We can’t stop it,” she said. “If we put our head in the sand, then our jobs will be gone. However, instead, if we learn how to use these tools, if we use it going forward, especially in Britain, we can be that creative powerhouse.”
Eline Van der Velden said she wanted the character to ‘have her own creative path’
Read more:
How AI music is fooling most of us
Tom Hollander ‘not scared’ of AI star
Ms Van der Velden said her studio has already helped a number of projects that were struggling due to budget constraints.
“Some productions get stuck, not able to find the last 30% of their budget, and so they don’t go into production,” she said. “Now with AI, by replacing some of the shots […] we can actually get that production going and working. So as a result, we get more jobs, we get more actors working, so that’s all really, really positive news.”
Entertainment
Sally Rooney tells court new books may not be published in UK due to Palestine Action ban
Irish author Sally Rooney has told the High Court she may not be able to publish new books in the UK, and may have to withdraw previous titles from sale, because of the ban on Palestine Action.
The group’s co-founder Huda Ammori is taking legal action against the Home Office over the decision to proscribe Palestine Action under anti-terror laws in July.
The ban made being a member of, or supporting, Palestine Action a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Rooney was in August warned that she risked committing a terrorist offence after saying she would donate earnings from her books, and the TV adaptations of Normal People and Conversations With Friends, to support Palestine Action.
In a witness statement made public on Thursday, Rooney said the producer of the BBC dramas said they had been advised that they could not send money to her agent if the funds could be used to fund the group, as that would be a crime under anti-terror laws.
Rooney added that it was “unclear” whether any UK company can pay her, stating that if she is prevented from profiting from her work, her income would be “enormously restricted”.
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Why was Palestine Action proscribed?
She added: “If I were to write another screenplay, television show or similar creative work, I would not be able to have it produced or distributed by a company based in England and Wales without, expressly or tacitly, accepting that I would not be paid.”
Rooney described how the publication of her books is based on royalties on sales, and that non-payment of royalties would mean she can terminate her contract.
“If, therefore, Faber and Faber Limited are legally prohibited from paying me the royalties I am owed, my existing works may have to be withdrawn from sale and would therefore no longer be available to readers in the UK,” Rooney added, saying this would be “a truly extreme incursion by the state into the realm of artistic expression”.
Rooney added that it is “almost certain” that she cannot publish or produce new work in the UK while the Palestine Action ban remains in force.
She said: “If Palestine Action is still proscribed by the time my next book is due for publication, then that book will be available to readers all over the world and in dozens of languages, but will be unavailable to readers in the United Kingdom simply because no one will be permitted to publish it, unless I am content to give it away for free.”
Sir James Eadie KC, barrister for the Home Office, said in a written submission that the ban’s aim is “stifling organisations concerned in terrorism and for members of the public to face criminal liability for joining or supporting such organisations”.
“That serves to ensure proscribed organisations are deprived of the oxygen of publicity as well as both vocal and financial support,” he continued.
The High Court hearing is due to conclude on 2 December, with a decision expected in writing at a later date.
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