Billie Eilish slams multiple vinyl variants of the same album as “wasteful”, likens artists pushing such sales to The Hunger Games
“It’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money.”
Image: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images
Billie Eilish has slammed the “wasteful” practice of artists releasing multiple vinyl variants of the same album.
“I was watching The Hunger Games and it made me think about it, because it’s like, we’re all going to do it because [it’s] the only way to play the game,” the 22-year-old singer-songwriter tells Billboard.
“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 [artists] more money and gets them more,” Eilish says.
“I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is,” she added, noting her frustrations at how even some of the industry’s biggest names are doing it to boost sales.
“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 fucking 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”
“It’s so wasteful, and it’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money – and it’s all your favourite artists doing that shit,” Eilish said.
“It’s just accentuating this already kind of messed up way of this industry working.”
Last year, the Rolling Stones released at least 43 vinyl variants of their new album Hackney Diamonds; each version featured a different artwork, though they all contain the same tracks. And while Eilish’s 2021 record Happier Than Ever was also offered in four vinyl variants, they were manufactured from 100% recycled black vinyl, using recycled scraps for coloured variants and shrink-wrap made from sugar cane.
