MIAMI.- Billie Eilishwho recently won the Oscar for Best Original Song for his success What Was I Made For?, critic a los artists who re-release their albums on different vinyls and packaging, and assured that the practice is a way of damaging the planet and make fans waste money.
The artist’s remarks arose during her interview that she gave to Billboardin which the singer acknowledged that she makes great efforts to ensure that her work leaves a positive mark on the planet in the midst of an unprecedented environmental crisis.
“We live in a time and era in which, for some reason, it is very important for some artists to make all kinds of vinyl and packaging of different types that increases sales and increases numbers and makes them make more money and more,” began the winner of nine Grammy Awards.
Eilish added that the commercial strategy of many, without pointing out any interpreter who is currently using this practice, is frustrating.
“I can’t express how wasteful it is. It’s right under our noses and people are getting away with it left and right, and I find that really frustrating, as someone who really strives to be sustainable and do the best they can and try involve everyone on my team to make it sustainable,” he said.
Sustainability in music
Billie has been characterized by appealing to sustainable practices, even promoting them within the music industry.
The artist uses recycled vinyl for his album Happier Than Ever and the packaging versions were made with shrink plastic based on sugar cane. Likewise, he joined with the REVERB organization with the aim of minimizing the environmental impact of his tours.
“It’s some of the biggest artists in the world making 40-packs of vinyl that have a different unique thing just to keep you buying more. It’s so wasteful, and it irritates me that we’re still at a point where you care so much about your numbers and you care so much about making money,” he said.
Although in the interview Billie does not mention any artist or musical group, Internet users assure that the two-time Oscar winner pointed directly to Taylor Swift, who in recent years has re-released her first albums and the latest projects also have a variety of packaging that is known as collectible editions.
The Rolling Stones, which has 43 variants of the album Hackney Diamonds, and famous K-Pop exponents have done the same. Recently, Shakira released her first album in seven years, Women no longer cryand it has four packaging and vinyl editions: diamond, sapphire, emerald and rub.
Billie’s mother, Maggie Baird, has also been critical of this in the past, noting that the industry should put limitations on vinyl color variants and their presentations. “I would like to see limits, like no more than four colors or some kind of rules, because you can’t blame an artist for playing number 1.”
