![]() A lot of steam, a lot of chilling, questionable process during the galvanics, the compound itself contains PVC, very difficult to recycle in the end.” ![]() As Michal Sterba, CEO of Czech-based GZ Media – a company a lot of UK record labels use for their manufacturing – admits: “Vinyl record is not the most ecological product in the world. Still, the production of a vinyl record is often a noisy, dirty, 19th-century steam-driven manufacturing process, involving a series of environmentally troubling materials. By contrast, once a vinyl LP has been produced and purchased, its impact on the environment becomes minimal – even the record player typically requires less energy than a computer or digital music server. Streaming services might seem like the greener option, but millions of digital files being streamed billions of times all require energy-intensive servers to store, retrieve and serve them to the consumer’s host device, such as a smartphone, which itself contributes to streaming’s carbon footprint, with its rare earth metals and short lifespan. They rarely end up in landfill and their inherent value means that unsold new records are often melted down and reused. True, most vinyl records involve the use of fossil fuels, chemicals and energy, but they typically endure for decades, with vinyl LPs being cherished, bequeathed and resold. The trouble, potentially, for record collectors and the environment is that the product has to be created from raw materials.Īs with plastic carrier bags, it isn’t a simple black-and-white issue. ![]() It is the physical interaction that resonates with enthusiasts, Gough says: the sleeve artwork, the heavyweight vinyl (180g is the prevailing benchmark of a quality release). ![]() They want to sit back, put that vinyl on and listen.” Even the major supermarkets are selling records now.Īs Christine Gough, senior director of physical production, Universal Music Group, explains: “People are taking time out of their busy lives to listen to music on vinyl. The irrepressible format that many people thought had died off in the mid-noughties has come roaring back over the past decade, hitting sales heights not seen since 1991, the last high-water mark for vinyl record sales.Īccording to recent data from Nielsen Music, 2018 record sales topped 16 million, up 14 per cent on 2017, which was a record-breaking year itself, during which vinyl sales reached their highest point since 1991, with over four million LP sales in the UK. ![]()
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