The Vinyl Variant Debate: Ethical Marketing of Physical Music
By Imogen Ladmore
Over the last 5 years, sales of vinyl records have continued to grow, surpassing CD sales in many countries. With the clear dominance of streaming, this ‘vinyl revival’ has been surprising to some industry executives. Kim Bayley, the CE of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) said that “few of us would have believed a renaissance like this was possible” (qtd in Sweney, 2022).
In some ways, this ‘renaissance’ is not surprising. After the pandemic rapidly shut down live entertainment, investing in physical media may have provided an alternative for music lovers to support their favourite artists. Vinyl records, among other physical media, can also offer an enhanced experience of the album, with some artists offering posters, collectible cards, and additional album artwork. In 2021, vinyl sales had risen 23% from the previous year (Sweney, 2022).
The growth of vinyl can also be attributed to an emphasis on the collectibility and exclusivity of the physical media. More and more artists have begun to offer a variety of colourful pressings for their music, creating incentives for fans to purchase a vinyl record or even multiple copies. For example, initiatives such as yearly Record Store Day see fans camping outside stores for exclusive and coveted releases. Many artists offer signed copies, or collaborate with different retailers to offer exclusive pressings.
While many consider this growing popularity of vinyl an exciting step for the music industry, many have also criticised some artists for offering too many vinyl variants and encouraging over-consumption of their releases.
Back in March this year, comments from Billie Eilish sparked online discussions about the ethics of ‘excessive’ vinyl variants. The 22 year old American Singer Songwriter expressed her frustrations with the practice, saying
“I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is.”
“I find it really frustrating as somebody who 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 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.” (qtd in Snapes, 2024)
After Eilish received some backlash for her own vinyl releases, she later clarified that the issue is an industry-wide problem and “when it comes to variants, so many artists release them — including me!” (qtd in Teen Vogue, 2024).
As well as excessive and unsustainable vinyl releases, many artists have been critiqued for unethical marketing tactics that manufacture a sense of scarcity.
Recently, American Singer-Songwriter Taylor Swift released her eleventh studio album ‘The Tortured Poets Department,’ beginning with 72 hour limited releases of four different collectors edition vinyl variants. Although they were advertised as being available for a limited time only, these products later returned to Swift’s American merchandise store. As the items never returned to the Australian store, many fans speculated online that Swift was unable to relist the collector’s edition CD’s and Vinyl on her Australian website due to the country’s stronger consumer laws that would have condemned the artist for falsely advertising her products.
Marketing tactics like this have sparked significant debate about the ethics of publishing ‘too many’ versions of an album.
While some argue that consumers should take responsibility for their own purchases by minimising their consumption, others state that artists should be held accountable for ‘manipulative’ tactics that take advantage of collectors and dedicate fanbases.
How many vinyl variants is too many?
References:
Snapes, Laura. (March 29th 2024). Billie Eilish criticises musicians for releasing multiple vinyl variants: ‘I can’t even express how wasteful it is.’ The Guardian.
Sweney, Mark. (December 27th, 2022). Taylor Swift propels UK vinyl sales past CDs for first time in 35 years.
past-cds-for-first-time-in-35-years
Teen Vogue. (April 2nd 2024). Billie Eilish Calls Out Biggest Artists for Wasteful Vinyl Album Variants.
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