Billie Eilish clarifies comments about “industry-wide systemic issues” with vinyl
After receiving criticism for sharing her thoughts on artists releasing multiple versions of albums on vinyl to conquer the charts, Billie Eilish has clarified her comments. The singer has stated she intended to highlight “industry-wide systemic issues” within the music industry rather than call-out specific musicians.
In recent years, since the advent of streaming, labels have begun to release a series of limited-edition versions of albums. The primary reason why this technique has become popular is because it is much-heavily weighted regarding the charts compared with listens on Spotify or Apple Music, however, it can be costly for loyal fans and has a damaging effect to the environment.
Speaking to Billboard, Eilish commented: “We live in this day and age where, for some reason, it’s very important to some artists to make all sorts of different vinyl and packaging … which ups the sales and ups the numbers and gets them more money and gets them more…”
Eilish elaborated: “I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is. It is right in front of our faces and people are just getting away with it left and right, and I find it really frustrating as somebody who really goes out of my way to be sustainable and do the best that I can and try to involve everybody in my team in being sustainable — and then it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making f–king 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”
She then described the “irritating” activity as “so wasteful”, arguing that artists are prioritising “numbers” and “money” is more important than sustainability.
While she didn’t name any specific artists, that didn’t stop people from speculating about the intended targets of her comments. However, Eilish has now explained that her issues lie with industry practices rather than individuals.
The singer-songwriter wrote on Instagram: “Okay so it would be so awesome if people would stop putting words into my mouth and actually read what I said in that Billboard article.”
“I wasn’t singling anyone out these are industry-wide systemic issues. & when it comes to variants, so many artists release them – including ME! Which I clearly state in the article,” she added.
Earlier this year, during an exclusive interview with Far Out, The Snuts singer Jack Cochrane revealed he felt uneasy about following this technique while previously locked in the major label system. Not only was the environmental impact troubling, but also fans’ finances because of the ongoing cost of living crisis.
With their latest album, Millennials, The Snuts chose not to release cassettes despite having a loyal fanbase willing to buy them. While it would help game the charts, as many bands know all too well, Cochrane said it would feel exploitative and inevitably only lead to a “fucking chunk of plastic in the sea”.
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