Billie Eilish slams artists for releasing "wasteful" vinyl variants

Los Angeles, California - Billie Eilish has taken a stand against the growing trend of musicians releasing an extensive number of vinyl variants in an attempt to boost sales, arguing the practice is "wasteful."

Billie Eilish criticized the trend of artists releasing multiple vinyl variants in an attempt to boost album sales.
Billie Eilish criticized the trend of artists releasing multiple vinyl variants in an attempt to boost album sales.  © Arturo Holmes / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Speaking with Billboard in an interview published Thursday, the 22-year-old singer discussed the importance of promoting sustainability within her career, a cause to which she has long been dedicated.

Billie and her mom, Maggie Baird, opened up about how they pushed labels towards transparency about their environmental impact from the early days of the Grammy winner's career.

The pair noted that merchandise was a particular point of contention in their fight for sustainability over profit.

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"Merch becomes a real issue," Maggie said. "We look at sustainability in every single aspect: vinyl, packaging, transportation, food."

When it comes to vinyl, in particular, Billie expressed her frustration at the ways other big artists go about their album roll-outs.

"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," she said.

"I can't even express to you how wasteful it is," Billie continued and added, "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."

In recent years, pop stars like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo have distributed their new albums on a number of vinyl variants – many of which contain a different exclusive song, thus encouraging fans to buy each edition.

Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and more have employed extensive vinyl roll-outs

Artists like Olivia Rodrigo (l.) and Taylor Swift have released several limited-edition vinyl variants of their new albums to boost sales.
Artists like Olivia Rodrigo (l.) and Taylor Swift have released several limited-edition vinyl variants of their new albums to boost sales.  © Collage: Screenshot/TikTok/@livbedumb & Screenshot/Instagram/taylorswift

Ahead of Taylor's upcoming 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, the 34-year-old has unveiled four limited-edition variants, made available for just a few days each, that all contained a different bonus track.

The strategic release pushed Swifties – many of whom had already purchased the original version upon her announcement of the album – to buy the special editions before realizing just how many were left to come.

With no streaming option confirmed at the moment, the variants also offer the only chance to listen to the bonus tracks.

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Maggie noted that the effort often meant that these artists would have much better odds of reaching the top of the charts thanks to the extra album sales, but Billie again derided the practice for the detrimental price paid on the environment.

"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 favorite artists doing that s**t," she said.

The mother-daughter duo conceded that it's an industry-wide problem, with Maggie noting, "You can't fault an artist for playing the No. 1 game." Still, she called for limiting the number of variants to help curb the issue.

As for her own albums, Billie has also released a number of different vinyl options, instead opting for variants made of recycled materials in an effort to reduce harm to the environment.

Cover photo: Arturo Holmes / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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