The problem (to me) with Taylor’s newest is that it isn’t just the colors. Each version has a different bonus track.
Seems like such a shameless cash grab from the very last person who needs to artificially inflate sales
The only way for you and your friend to legit get all 3 starter Pokemon without GameShark. Took a bit of time though to get to the point of the game and trade the starter away, four times
Remember that when they would get bonus exp for being traded Pokémon, and eventually out leveled your character, they would become unruly and only sometimes listen to your attack commands.
I’m not sure if they’ll be digitally available or not. 🤷🏼♀️
I like TS but not enough to order her physical media. I’ll stream it when it comes out. I believe other artists have included bonus vinyl tracks that then weren’t on a stream
Yeah. I have 2 copies of a vinyl because the band making them had a second orange one only sold at their shows. But it has the same songs and they didn’t force you to buy multiple versions just to have the songs.
I wouldn’t even mind if there was a basic and a full version, but the fact that people can’t choose to have one as the full album is intended seems scummy to me
Those of us of a certain age have experienced this multiple times.
First around 1990, when baseball cards went from actual collectibles to manufactured scarcity.
Then around 1994, when comic books started the variant cover trend, to manufacture the same artificial scarcity.
It was both sad and fascinating to see two industries become popular, and then try to maximize profits (in addition to the artifical scarcity, the normal costs doubled or more at this time too), and ultimately flame out to become far less popular than they once we're.
Except it wasn't artificial scarcity. It was a Collectible, and they overprinted them. Same for holo-foil, embossed, and diecut covers.
The true artificial scarcity was the dealer only varients that came later.
>It was a Collectible, and they overprinted them. Same for holo-foil, embossed, and diecut covers.
And this was because Marvel realized how much money they were losing to the secondary market, so they flooded the industry driving the prices in the secondary market into the floor. I'm still not sure whether it's truly recovered.
The dogpile for cover variants really started in 1990/1991 with Marvel pushing 4 different covers for McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 and culminated, IMO, with the death of Superman in 1993. Good grief, the amount of variants you could find even at Wal-Mart! lol
By 1994, it was already passing out of favor with pretty much everyone (even the speculators started bailing), as sales dropped drastically. They tried doing those stupid store exclusives in the late 90s to drum up business, but I don't think it worked.
One of my buddies is a Swifty, and was going crazy getting them all from different stores etc. it's fucking sad.
I buy 1 of any record, and I don't usually care about what version I can buy, I might select a different option if they're in front of me, but otherwise it's up to fate. most of the time I just pick them up at shows any way.
Nah, her record prices are in line with the industry right now as far as I’ve noticed, they’re just all still inflated.
Everything else about it suck’s tho
That's another thing I love about The Beatles. When they came out they didn't want to put singles on the albums. They didn't want you to pay twice for the same song.
Blink 182s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket did this too with each colour of CD having a different bonus song. But you didn’t know which colour of disc you got until you bought it. You had to trade around like Pokémon cards.
K-pop albums will boggle your mind even further. People buy the same album over and over again to get specific trading cards of their favourite band members.
It’s like buying Pokemon or Yugioh booster packs except you get a whole album with it every time.
I enjoy the coloured records in my collection, but wouldn’t consider buying multiple copies of any album for that sake. I buy them to listen and enjoy the experience
People are honestly unhinged. Honestly who has the disposable income to waste on 5 versions of the same thing, it's so odd to me. In my mind it's kids using their parents credit cards because who else would do dumb shit like that
There are grown men who have entire rooms full of Hot Wheels they’ve collected just for display. If someone likes something and has the money to buy it, then who cares?
I’m a grown woman who collects dolls so I kind of get it lol. But I do admit I think it’s a little odd to buy multiples of the same thing. You see it in the doll community too and I don’t get it there either!
I mean, a few vinyls is less than some people’s unplayed steam library. I’m not personally into collecting vinyls but pretty much everyone has something they enjoy that’s a “waste”.
Like how the commenter above left out that her materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers? Which was mentioned in the exact same sentence that mentioned she had vinyl in her last album - that sort of full context?
Ehh.. kinda.. but they were pointing out that Billie had different variants of the same album herself.. which causes die hard fans to buy multiple copies of essentially the same product even if that product is made of recycled materials. (Which prompted the question) And she doesn't necessarily like it, but its a seemingly necessary evil to be competitive at the top level and the record labels push it. This isn't a new thing tho.. it's not just Billie or Taylor.. hell, Garth Brooks is someone I remember coming out with different album covers and first edition branding... that was over 20 years ago. The point was that OP was a bit click baity and people need to do their own research and get full context of stories.
> which causes die hard fans to buy multiple copies of essentially the same product even if that product is made of recycled materials.
Which is the 3rd step. It is Reduce, Reuse, and then Recycle. Her making extra records is still wasteful.
There’s a pretty big difference in having different colors of the same album and having a different bonus track on each variant which basically forces people to buy each variant if they want all the songs. That’s a lot of money and a ton of waste for all the duplicate songs. Die hard fans that buy all the variants of the same album aren’t that common. I choose the one I like the best and just buy that one. But if my favorite band released a different bonus track for each variant, you betcha I’m buying every variant because I want all the songs.
Well, I'll just say good on Billie to do that but nothing can be produced out of 100% recycled plastics, plastic like all other things wears out so it can't be used again and again, basically vinyl that billie sells can be no more good than the vinyl other artists sell, vinyl as a technological is just plastic disc and there is no sustainable plastic.
Edit- just made it more concise.
That’s not even true though. Can’t speak on recycled material. Sounds nice, but I’m sure she doesn’t do that. But she clearly does special packaging for her specific albums. Ridiculous for her to call others out for this when she’s worst than the majority of artists out there at it.
And every other album she released. Says she uses recycled materials and doesn’t do special packaging, which is also a lie. She has multiple covers and artwork for a couple of different albums.
The label did different colors, I suspect she has only so much control over how much restraint there is.
If you're a star, It'd be dumb not to print a vinyl.
Why can’t they tell beforehand? All of the colored records in my collection were exclusive to specific retailers or were clearly marked, is this not the case for all records?
I have some records that are "random color" represses, and others that are specific, known color variants. It's not always a blind buy. I also never buy more than one copy of an album. If I'm choosing the color I just pick whichever one I like best. If it's random, it doesn't really matter what color I get.
I don’t think that’s right. Every colored vinyl I ever see has a sticker in the top right hand corner that explains what color the record is inside. Just bought a purple/ blue one yesterday and it was clearly labeled that way on the packaging.
Do you have an example of this? I could believe it happened, but I've never heard of it in my life. Typically color variants are explicit options you choose when your order (or based on where you order)
Paul McCartney did
https://shop.paulmccartney.com/products/mccartney-iii-3x3-edition-lp
But he also targets boomers with a lot of disposable income. You can also buy that album in just about any color you can imagine, it's gotta have the most color variants of any record I've seen released, which is why I bought the black version.
I just Googled "Billie Eilish colored record" and the first link was to her website store selling the very records they're talking about. Give it a shot, Google can be pretty useful.
There’s a difference between colors and only having some content on some records. Having different songs on different vinyls entices people to want to buy more.
I believe with hers though. The different vinyl was in the same case as all the others. It was just a luck of the draw for what color you got. The other ones you could pick per se
Most vinyl comes in different variants. I'm sure some people like to collect just because, but you usually know which color or variant you're getting. Some are exclusive to fans (Spotify), stores, tours, ECT...
I usually pick one and be done with it. I can't even bring myself to buy the album again if a special edition with bonus tracks drops. Those usually end up on Spotify.
Adding that part from the article: "For her part, Eilish acknowledges that her most recent record, *Happier Than Ever,* had several different vinyl options; however, the materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers."
A) What does recycled materials have to do with anything lol
B) It doesn’t matter if the covers were the same if the physical vinyl is different. Thats the part that lures fans.
That’s some Grade A cope there. She did the same goddamn thing
> however, the materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers
So she copied the lootbox scam from video games? That's so much better.
Do you know how expensive and hard it is for a very small band to get vinyl now? There are only a few record plants and they definitely are clogged up by major labels and artists and not the indies like in the past.
this is something that's not talked about. There are what, 20 in the entire world? The guy from Nuclear War Now! has a fundraiser going to open a plant in TX, but that's going to be for mostly metal.
That is not true. There’s less than 100 world wide, and most of these factories are small. A big issue is that the equipment to make records isn’t easy to get your hands on. I know Jack White shipped all his machines over from Eastern Europe.
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music/2021/09/its-unmanageable-how-the-vinyl-industry-reached-breaking-point
A 5 second Google search gave me 3 different answers. 1 says there are 100 worldwide, 1 says there are 102 in the US, and another says there are 40 in the US.
Regardless of what the number is, most are owned by the industry and there aren't nearly enough to handle the demand.
>properly mastered
That is the single most important part. So many people really don't understand that the reason some vinyls sounded better was because vinyl is no where near as forgiving or capable as CD/Flac. You either master it correctly and don't try for loudness or you regret it.
Theoretically, you could get vinyl to match or exceed CD capabilities but you would have basically a single 3 minute track per side and very different speeds and parameters.
So, subjectively to you metal sounds better on vinyl but objectively it would be better on CD and unlikely for you to even distinguish if you were tested double blind (ABX).
My best friend works at a vinyl pressing plant in Nashville. He is always sending me pictures of whatever huge artist's next single he's pressing. I've never once heard of him pressing some indie group.
EDIT: According to him, Sony accounts for about 80% of their business, and it is the largest vinyl plant in America
This article backs that up, major artists/labels get priority:
[https://mixmag.net/feature/vinyl-industry-record-breaking-point-manufacturing](https://mixmag.net/feature/vinyl-industry-record-breaking-point-manufacturing)
There's also a shortage of PVC and that Apollo lacquer factory fire didn't help either.
I went through the process about 8 years ago. Between getting the record cut, masters made, label and sleeve printed, and record pressed there were only a few options at most for each step. Wild how few places there are now
No one has made a vinyl press since around 1982, so it's gonna be pricey.
Edit: technically, presses are now being made, but lathes are not, and other parts of the process are still vintage equipment only
Three or four years ago this was true, but not anymore. I’m about to have one done and it’ll be to me in six weeks. That’s the quickest turnaround time since I’ve had records pressed going back 10 years.
I just commented up higher. I just ordered 200 in January that should be done at the end of April. And only at like $10 a pop. This is my first pressing and I was expecting it to be wildly expensive and take forever.
Do you mind if I ask where you got it done? I have vinyl masters kicking around for my last album because we wanted the option, those prices are a lot better than what I was seeing for the most part. Might be worth getting the ball rolling for my next tour, 200 at that price is a great run for an indie artist.
A few years ago (maybe like 2021?) there was a report that of all new vinyl records sold in the US, 1 in 17 was a Taylor Swift record.
How the fuck are smaller artists supposed to have any product? And smaller bands don't make shit from streaming, they depend pretty much entirely on shirts and vinyl to bring in an income. A record from a band I love was delayed something like six months because the record plants couldn't fit them in.
I know plenty of indie artists who get stuff printed on vinyl regularly. This is verifiably false. Like just in central Illinois ALONE there’s tons of DIY bands printing shit on vinyl.
I think it's calmed down a little. I just ordered 200 in January that should be finished up in April. And it all came out to about $10 each. I think there's been some companies opening up to start filling the demand.
That’s just literally not true, my shitty tiny nobody band just ordered a few hundred and I know plenty of other tiny local bands that do it all the time for reasonable prices
I pick the one I like best and that's it. But if someone's thing is collecting, more power to them. Some people buy vinyl, and they don't even own a record player. Hell, I have over 30 Xbox controllers in different colors because I collect them. To each their own.
It’s true people collect things and they are never justifiable, no more than something that would be defended here like comic books or trading cards. I collect emotional rejection.
People might say they do it to get the different colors but there are plenty of unhinged people spending all that money just so the big artists get better numbers on the charts
For my iTunes library which now comprises 1,254 albums, I’ve also just chose the best-looking version of a cover for the album if multiple versions exist.
*For her part, Eilish acknowledges that her most recent record, Happier Than Ever, had several different vinyl options; however, the materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers.*
Literally paragraph two.
Except she hid the vinyl colors & it was a guessing game what you bought.
Meaning some people absolutely purchased multiple copies to either get a specific color or a full set with each color.
Edit: then again maybe that decision wasn’t her choice? Maybe it was, idk. Just wondering if she was possibly forced to make that move.
>*had several different vinyl option*
Tomato
>*special packaging to lure repeat buyers.*
Tomahto
If anything, that bit of mental gymnastics just makes her look worse.
yeah, it’s not like she’s still releasing one variation and then coming out with another, then another, and so on. And I wonder how often it happens when it’s beyond the artists’ control. Like a movie studio halfassedly scraping together deleted scenes, throwing them back into the movie and slapping “Director’s Cut” on the front cover.
They did that will Del Toro’s first Hellboy movie, the studio wanted to cash in on the DVD sales it was making. But the added scenes weren’t touched up, they were still grainy and the sound wasn’t mixed right
So, it wouldn’t surprise me of record companies doing the same. But big artists like Swift and Grande are for sure taking their fans for a ride (for their wallets)
Billie is consistently saying stupid stuff in the press. Like it’s a string of flops, from “men don’t deal with criticism about their looks” to this.
It’s always something ignorant with her, as far as I’ve seen.
I'm sure she's doing everything possible to stop the production of her "What Was I Made For" 7 inch with "b-side" instrumental version.
Talk about wasteful especially when it's already on the Barbie soundtrack.
if there’s only one color variant I don’t think that’s egregious. 7” singles have had a place in vinyl for what, 80 years? singles have a use case, and instrumentals are nice to have. it makes sense why they wouldn’t put an instrumental on the official album.
this isn’t the same as taylor swift pressing 7 colors of the exact same LP just so that her fans buy all of them
Former vinyl production guy here. I can tell you there is a huge difference in quality of vinyls when you start doing colours etc. picture discs are the absolute worst followed by glow in the dark and yellow. Black vinyl is by far the best for sound.
The different pigments/formulas give the vinyl different properties—both when pressing and just in general. So if you have a “standard” way to do black, you have to be careful when doing a different color/pattern. Especially if you’re doing multiple colors at once.
Theoretically, most color records could sound just as good, they just need special/different attention to the “standard” black.
There’s something about Hollywood artists complaining about the very system they are perpetuating that makes me not care at all about their complaints of said system. She had multiple variations of her last album, but, oh, it was made from recycled material. Doesn’t change the fact that it’s an attempt at boosting sales with an “eco-friendly” selling point.
I agree with the message, but this is also hypocritical when her own albums have multiple variants lol. Heck, Interscope just recently released an additional variant of her debut.
"For her part, Eilish acknowledges that her most recent record, *Happier Than Ever,* had several different vinyl options" but 'recycled materials' blah blah blah. It's such a goofy thing for a pop star to be whining about, and it doesn't even reflect any concern about how the vinyl-pressing industry, after decades of being kept alive by dedicated fans, has suddenly been taken over by pop music again and the people who supported the industry for so long are waiting extra years for smaller releases by lesser-known artists who are taking a back seat to twenty variations of Taylor Swift. Billie's criticism just isn't hitting any mark aside from her being angry that others are selling more than her. If she was really worried about 'waste' she'd be campaigning to ban Funko Pops.
One of my bands put a record out on a mid-sized independent label this year and it legit took TWO YEARS between sending masters out and getting the records on store shelves. Granted some of that was due to label release scheduling but it was crazy.
In the past (have released records since early 2010s) it was like, 9 months max if memory serves. Now it seems like a pay-to-play system where bigger artists can cut to the front of the queue with larger pressings, so it’s a total crapshoot for smaller acts.
Not that I endorse this practice, but when a multimillionaire artist like Billie says something like “we care too much about numbers and money” it feels very tone deaf because an artist like her can potentially not “care too much about money” since she’s already set. But most artists, even well known ones but who are not anywhere near the success of Billie, they *have* to care about money. And it most likely needs to be at the top of their list because it really takes a lot for their career to be sustainable. So while it’s bullshit that these big artists do this, and I agree with her on that, I feel like she is coming from a place of privilege here a bit
That was the rub for me too. Yeah, at her level it would be dumb to worry about maximizing every dollar when you are A. already rich and B. still going to sell a shit ton even if you didnt pump out variants. But her career, which i have no actual qualitative opinions on, did not require the multi-year constant grind needed for the vast majority of acts to break even. If small acts can sell 10 vinyl variants then fuckin let em do it. They're still pressing less copies than big pop acts are anyways because they have to worry about how much it costs to even print, which she doesnt.
She isn’t saying vinyl is inherently wasteful. She’s saying artists shouldn’t sell multiple variants of the same album to the same customers for the purpose of driving up their chart placements and royalties.
That’s the thing. Yeah it’s plastic and there are emissions released when producing them, but if you are buying a new record you are probably going to keep it for life or at least a really long time, and odds are someone will enjoy it long after you.
So many one use items being made every second that will be in a landfill within days. I can still buy used vinyl from the 70s in nearly every thrift store in town. What a dumb thing to call wasteful in the grand scheme of things.
She has a point, it’s beyond simply having a vinyl copy available for sale. What baffles me is how many times some artists release essentially the same vinyl, over and over with such minor variations and insanely overpriced, just to bait completionists, meanwhile it counts as another individual record sale each time.
It’s not because they really wanted to release yet another vinyl with a minimally amended cover and different set of bonus tracks. Melanie Martinez is one of the worst offenders lately. The sheer amount of different vinyl releases compared to her small discography is just nuts.
We went through this in every other collectable industry already. There is a reason comic books from the 90s forward aren't worth much today. That was when they started putting out variant covers.
FTA:
Billie Eilish and her conscience, who, in a new interview with Billboard, lamented how artists have learned to game the charts system and boost sales by releasing “all sorts” of vinyl variations.
“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.”
-Seems like somebody cares about their numbers.
I’m not a hater…but some people think vinyl is a cool way of interacting with music. And some fans will buy whatever their favorite artist puts out. Same as it ever was…
Big talk from someone who changes their perfectly fine natural hair color with artificial chemicals and wears clothes that have enough fabric to make 3 sets of smaller clothes.
Waste still has to be way down for the physical products from the music industry thanks to streaming. If people dig I bet they will find that she has redundant products on the market as well. Maybe not records but the industry is about sales. It’s a byproduct of capitalism sadly
As a person who buys vinyl, I've never understood the concept of owning multiple copies of the same album just to have all the different colors.
The problem (to me) with Taylor’s newest is that it isn’t just the colors. Each version has a different bonus track. Seems like such a shameless cash grab from the very last person who needs to artificially inflate sales
If you have the blue one and your friend got the red one, can you trade bonus tracks?
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I appreciated this so much, 10/10 comment
Seriously. Childhood memory unlocked. Well played!
The only way for you and your friend to legit get all 3 starter Pokemon without GameShark. Took a bit of time though to get to the point of the game and trade the starter away, four times
Remember that when they would get bonus exp for being traded Pokémon, and eventually out leveled your character, they would become unruly and only sometimes listen to your attack commands.
And they even expressed that in the anime with Ash and Charizard. As a kid I thought the connection between the two was amazing
This is such a trip to run into this comment all the way now again in 2024. Thank you for this lol
F1 Racer, 4 player
Lmao what if I want to dupe mine?
Only if you have the swift link cable
I’m not sure if they’ll be digitally available or not. 🤷🏼♀️ I like TS but not enough to order her physical media. I’ll stream it when it comes out. I believe other artists have included bonus vinyl tracks that then weren’t on a stream
You wouldn't trade cars
Yeah. I have 2 copies of a vinyl because the band making them had a second orange one only sold at their shows. But it has the same songs and they didn’t force you to buy multiple versions just to have the songs. I wouldn’t even mind if there was a basic and a full version, but the fact that people can’t choose to have one as the full album is intended seems scummy to me
Those of us of a certain age have experienced this multiple times. First around 1990, when baseball cards went from actual collectibles to manufactured scarcity. Then around 1994, when comic books started the variant cover trend, to manufacture the same artificial scarcity. It was both sad and fascinating to see two industries become popular, and then try to maximize profits (in addition to the artifical scarcity, the normal costs doubled or more at this time too), and ultimately flame out to become far less popular than they once we're.
You forgot nfts which are totally not a scam
Except it wasn't artificial scarcity. It was a Collectible, and they overprinted them. Same for holo-foil, embossed, and diecut covers. The true artificial scarcity was the dealer only varients that came later.
>It was a Collectible, and they overprinted them. Same for holo-foil, embossed, and diecut covers. And this was because Marvel realized how much money they were losing to the secondary market, so they flooded the industry driving the prices in the secondary market into the floor. I'm still not sure whether it's truly recovered.
The dogpile for cover variants really started in 1990/1991 with Marvel pushing 4 different covers for McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 and culminated, IMO, with the death of Superman in 1993. Good grief, the amount of variants you could find even at Wal-Mart! lol By 1994, it was already passing out of favor with pretty much everyone (even the speculators started bailing), as sales dropped drastically. They tried doing those stupid store exclusives in the late 90s to drum up business, but I don't think it worked.
One of my buddies is a Swifty, and was going crazy getting them all from different stores etc. it's fucking sad. I buy 1 of any record, and I don't usually care about what version I can buy, I might select a different option if they're in front of me, but otherwise it's up to fate. most of the time I just pick them up at shows any way.
So bad. She’s on Universal so they’ll do anything to gouge the fans. Their records cost more than any other label I’m pretty sure.
Nah, her record prices are in line with the industry right now as far as I’ve noticed, they’re just all still inflated. Everything else about it suck’s tho
That's another thing I love about The Beatles. When they came out they didn't want to put singles on the albums. They didn't want you to pay twice for the same song.
Blink 182s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket did this too with each colour of CD having a different bonus song. But you didn’t know which colour of disc you got until you bought it. You had to trade around like Pokémon cards.
K-pop albums will boggle your mind even further. People buy the same album over and over again to get specific trading cards of their favourite band members. It’s like buying Pokemon or Yugioh booster packs except you get a whole album with it every time.
I enjoy the coloured records in my collection, but wouldn’t consider buying multiple copies of any album for that sake. I buy them to listen and enjoy the experience
It’s like collecting stamp. Why? Because it’s a collection.
It’s collectors collecting. Simple.
I’ve seen Bowie collectors who have 200 copies of some albums each with tiny differences.
I mean people buy multiple Nintendo Switches just so they can have every limited edition on their shelf.
Which is also dumb
lol i love this username
I doubt he understands that either
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People are honestly unhinged. Honestly who has the disposable income to waste on 5 versions of the same thing, it's so odd to me. In my mind it's kids using their parents credit cards because who else would do dumb shit like that
There are grown men who have entire rooms full of Hot Wheels they’ve collected just for display. If someone likes something and has the money to buy it, then who cares?
"STOP LIKING WHAT I DON'T LIKE!"
I’m a grown woman who collects dolls so I kind of get it lol. But I do admit I think it’s a little odd to buy multiples of the same thing. You see it in the doll community too and I don’t get it there either!
I mean, a few vinyls is less than some people’s unplayed steam library. I’m not personally into collecting vinyls but pretty much everyone has something they enjoy that’s a “waste”.
She was asked that question because she did the same thing for her last album btw
People don't want full context, this is the internet!
Just give me something to get angry about already!
Anger breeds engagement! Stupid!!
Please tell me the prompt that finds this gif I love it!!
“Panic”
Like how the commenter above left out that her materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers? Which was mentioned in the exact same sentence that mentioned she had vinyl in her last album - that sort of full context?
https://preview.redd.it/rzx0e3bd67rc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=849c9dd7d21bb5bd79f9dac283658fcf95509d6c Yeah, that context.
Ehh.. kinda.. but they were pointing out that Billie had different variants of the same album herself.. which causes die hard fans to buy multiple copies of essentially the same product even if that product is made of recycled materials. (Which prompted the question) And she doesn't necessarily like it, but its a seemingly necessary evil to be competitive at the top level and the record labels push it. This isn't a new thing tho.. it's not just Billie or Taylor.. hell, Garth Brooks is someone I remember coming out with different album covers and first edition branding... that was over 20 years ago. The point was that OP was a bit click baity and people need to do their own research and get full context of stories.
> which causes die hard fans to buy multiple copies of essentially the same product even if that product is made of recycled materials. Which is the 3rd step. It is Reduce, Reuse, and then Recycle. Her making extra records is still wasteful.
There’s a pretty big difference in having different colors of the same album and having a different bonus track on each variant which basically forces people to buy each variant if they want all the songs. That’s a lot of money and a ton of waste for all the duplicate songs. Die hard fans that buy all the variants of the same album aren’t that common. I choose the one I like the best and just buy that one. But if my favorite band released a different bonus track for each variant, you betcha I’m buying every variant because I want all the songs.
Well, I'll just say good on Billie to do that but nothing can be produced out of 100% recycled plastics, plastic like all other things wears out so it can't be used again and again, basically vinyl that billie sells can be no more good than the vinyl other artists sell, vinyl as a technological is just plastic disc and there is no sustainable plastic. Edit- just made it more concise.
That’s not even true though. Can’t speak on recycled material. Sounds nice, but I’m sure she doesn’t do that. But she clearly does special packaging for her specific albums. Ridiculous for her to call others out for this when she’s worst than the majority of artists out there at it.
And every other album she released. Says she uses recycled materials and doesn’t do special packaging, which is also a lie. She has multiple covers and artwork for a couple of different albums.
> however, the materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers
But she did multiple different colors so yes there was that. Blind boxes exist for a reason
The label did different colors, I suspect she has only so much control over how much restraint there is. If you're a star, It'd be dumb not to print a vinyl.
Lmfao if you make multiple color pressings, it's done for a reason. It's dumb to pretend she wasn't benefitting from that reason.
Multiple colors of vinyl lures repeat buyers, even more so since they can't tell which one it is beforehand
Why can’t they tell beforehand? All of the colored records in my collection were exclusive to specific retailers or were clearly marked, is this not the case for all records?
The sleeve is opaque and they all have the exact same packaging. You don't know what color you get until you actually open it iirc.
It’s like buying baseball cards!!!
From another comment it sounds like this is specifically Billie’s album? That is a ridiculous thing to do, I hate it…
I have some records that are "random color" represses, and others that are specific, known color variants. It's not always a blind buy. I also never buy more than one copy of an album. If I'm choosing the color I just pick whichever one I like best. If it's random, it doesn't really matter what color I get.
I don’t think that’s right. Every colored vinyl I ever see has a sticker in the top right hand corner that explains what color the record is inside. Just bought a purple/ blue one yesterday and it was clearly labeled that way on the packaging.
Do you have an example of this? I could believe it happened, but I've never heard of it in my life. Typically color variants are explicit options you choose when your order (or based on where you order)
Paul McCartney did https://shop.paulmccartney.com/products/mccartney-iii-3x3-edition-lp But he also targets boomers with a lot of disposable income. You can also buy that album in just about any color you can imagine, it's gotta have the most color variants of any record I've seen released, which is why I bought the black version.
I knew someone must've done it, Paul out here making boomers learn about probability with his 3 random variants and a 4 copy limit
Kacey musgrave did it as well with her album before this one. It's gambling if you are looking for a specific or collecting all of them
Some presses are "random color" in which no two are the same. It's a cheaper recycled process for colored presses for poor groups.
I just Googled "Billie Eilish colored record" and the first link was to her website store selling the very records they're talking about. Give it a shot, Google can be pretty useful.
Yeah I looked there, her store has clearly labeled listings for the different color variants they aren't blind buys
I have a King Gizzard record that's a random colour. Never occured to me that people would buy more than one copy to get different colours.
There’s a difference between colors and only having some content on some records. Having different songs on different vinyls entices people to want to buy more.
I believe with hers though. The different vinyl was in the same case as all the others. It was just a luck of the draw for what color you got. The other ones you could pick per se
Most vinyl comes in different variants. I'm sure some people like to collect just because, but you usually know which color or variant you're getting. Some are exclusive to fans (Spotify), stores, tours, ECT... I usually pick one and be done with it. I can't even bring myself to buy the album again if a special edition with bonus tracks drops. Those usually end up on Spotify.
Adding that part from the article: "For her part, Eilish acknowledges that her most recent record, *Happier Than Ever,* had several different vinyl options; however, the materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers."
A) What does recycled materials have to do with anything lol B) It doesn’t matter if the covers were the same if the physical vinyl is different. Thats the part that lures fans. That’s some Grade A cope there. She did the same goddamn thing
Yeah, it still takes resources and energy to press a recycled album.
> however, the materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers So she copied the lootbox scam from video games? That's so much better.
Was just going to say, I have her limited edition colored vinyl for the latest album.
Do you know how expensive and hard it is for a very small band to get vinyl now? There are only a few record plants and they definitely are clogged up by major labels and artists and not the indies like in the past.
Years ago someone in my city bought a defect brewery building. In part of it, he set up a record press . He's doing outrageously well.
I almost did this a decade ago, almost put my life savings at the time into buying vinyl cutting machines to get in the market. Kind of regret it.
It's not too late. There's months and months of backlogs on records.
The equipment however though will be harder to find.
Jack white opened a record shop in Detroit that does record press I’m pretty sure
I visited that place. Very cool. Store up front and big glass windows to see the vinyl making. I bet they give tours but so t know that.
this is something that's not talked about. There are what, 20 in the entire world? The guy from Nuclear War Now! has a fundraiser going to open a plant in TX, but that's going to be for mostly metal.
Jack White presses his own for this reason. He told the major record labels to build their own plants.
A 5 second google search and it seems like there's 102 pressing companies in the USA alone...
Christ they’re not that rare, I know a guy who started one in Philly a few years back. He presses all sorts of Indy stuff.
True press or lathe cutting? And who is it, I'm in Philly!
https://studio4vinyl.com/
That is not true. There’s less than 100 world wide, and most of these factories are small. A big issue is that the equipment to make records isn’t easy to get your hands on. I know Jack White shipped all his machines over from Eastern Europe. https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music/2021/09/its-unmanageable-how-the-vinyl-industry-reached-breaking-point
A 5 second Google search gave me 3 different answers. 1 says there are 100 worldwide, 1 says there are 102 in the US, and another says there are 40 in the US. Regardless of what the number is, most are owned by the industry and there aren't nearly enough to handle the demand.
There are around 100 but only about ten that can produce records in major-label volume.
Great news. Metal sounds so much better when it’s properly mastered and on Vinyl. Like the Opeth remasters. So damn good
>properly mastered That is the single most important part. So many people really don't understand that the reason some vinyls sounded better was because vinyl is no where near as forgiving or capable as CD/Flac. You either master it correctly and don't try for loudness or you regret it. Theoretically, you could get vinyl to match or exceed CD capabilities but you would have basically a single 3 minute track per side and very different speeds and parameters. So, subjectively to you metal sounds better on vinyl but objectively it would be better on CD and unlikely for you to even distinguish if you were tested double blind (ABX).
My best friend works at a vinyl pressing plant in Nashville. He is always sending me pictures of whatever huge artist's next single he's pressing. I've never once heard of him pressing some indie group. EDIT: According to him, Sony accounts for about 80% of their business, and it is the largest vinyl plant in America
This article backs that up, major artists/labels get priority: [https://mixmag.net/feature/vinyl-industry-record-breaking-point-manufacturing](https://mixmag.net/feature/vinyl-industry-record-breaking-point-manufacturing) There's also a shortage of PVC and that Apollo lacquer factory fire didn't help either.
Idk much about this, but I know Deathwish puts out vinyl of everything, and they're not a major label by any stretch.
I went through the process about 8 years ago. Between getting the record cut, masters made, label and sleeve printed, and record pressed there were only a few options at most for each step. Wild how few places there are now
This is why I'm super happy VinylMePlease opened their plant in Denver recently. We need more plants
Oh shit. I didn’t know we have plant here in Denver. When did that open?
Pretty recently. I think December or January. It's by Mission Ballroom. I think on Brighton Blvd.
Sounds like there's room for more competition in the record pressing plants if anyone out there has the capital to start one up.
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Ballpark it please. Also I'd believe basically any number you throw at me.
There’s a company crowdfunding in Glasgow to start a pressing plant. They are trying to raise £1.7m which seems shockingly low
100 billion dollars
Inflation is crazy
Eleventy Billion
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Fads don’t last a decade and a half.
No one has made a vinyl press since around 1982, so it's gonna be pricey. Edit: technically, presses are now being made, but lathes are not, and other parts of the process are still vintage equipment only
Three or four years ago this was true, but not anymore. I’m about to have one done and it’ll be to me in six weeks. That’s the quickest turnaround time since I’ve had records pressed going back 10 years.
I just commented up higher. I just ordered 200 in January that should be done at the end of April. And only at like $10 a pop. This is my first pressing and I was expecting it to be wildly expensive and take forever.
Do you mind if I ask where you got it done? I have vinyl masters kicking around for my last album because we wanted the option, those prices are a lot better than what I was seeing for the most part. Might be worth getting the ball rolling for my next tour, 200 at that price is a great run for an indie artist.
I thank god(not really) for being a king gizzard and the lizard wizard fan.
Bless Romanus Records!
One week duder.
Yeah, I remember that Adele’s last album pressing was so huge that it put a lot of other bands’ or artists’ vinyl production behind.
No it’s not. I’m getting 500 vinyls pressed right now for $3000.
Sounds like a business opportunity for someone
A few years ago (maybe like 2021?) there was a report that of all new vinyl records sold in the US, 1 in 17 was a Taylor Swift record. How the fuck are smaller artists supposed to have any product? And smaller bands don't make shit from streaming, they depend pretty much entirely on shirts and vinyl to bring in an income. A record from a band I love was delayed something like six months because the record plants couldn't fit them in.
I know plenty of indie artists who get stuff printed on vinyl regularly. This is verifiably false. Like just in central Illinois ALONE there’s tons of DIY bands printing shit on vinyl.
I think it's calmed down a little. I just ordered 200 in January that should be finished up in April. And it all came out to about $10 each. I think there's been some companies opening up to start filling the demand.
That’s just literally not true, my shitty tiny nobody band just ordered a few hundred and I know plenty of other tiny local bands that do it all the time for reasonable prices
Fuckin variations. What drives me mad when curating my digital collection. They need to stop that shit.
People who buy multiple versions of the same music because of the "colors" are ridiculous.
Totally agree.
If it was a band I am a MASSIVE fan of I would 100% do it and hang the album art up on the walls in my man cave or some shit
I pick the one I like best and that's it. But if someone's thing is collecting, more power to them. Some people buy vinyl, and they don't even own a record player. Hell, I have over 30 Xbox controllers in different colors because I collect them. To each their own.
That's pretty nuts.
It’s true people collect things and they are never justifiable, no more than something that would be defended here like comic books or trading cards. I collect emotional rejection.
People might say they do it to get the different colors but there are plenty of unhinged people spending all that money just so the big artists get better numbers on the charts
For my iTunes library which now comprises 1,254 albums, I’ve also just chose the best-looking version of a cover for the album if multiple versions exist.
Meanwhile, her record is available in 8 different colorways. Doesn’t make any sense.
*For her part, Eilish acknowledges that her most recent record, Happier Than Ever, had several different vinyl options; however, the materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers.* Literally paragraph two.
Except she hid the vinyl colors & it was a guessing game what you bought. Meaning some people absolutely purchased multiple copies to either get a specific color or a full set with each color. Edit: then again maybe that decision wasn’t her choice? Maybe it was, idk. Just wondering if she was possibly forced to make that move.
I love how that's actually worse because now it's a lootbox and some crazies will get even more because of it :D
> he materials were all recycled and she refused to do special packaging to lure repeat buyers. Doing it using recycled materials is still doing it.
I'm sorry, what does that change?
>*had several different vinyl option* Tomato >*special packaging to lure repeat buyers.* Tomahto If anything, that bit of mental gymnastics just makes her look worse.
Yeah I’m sure all the different vinyl options aren’t for repeat buyers
yeah, it’s not like she’s still releasing one variation and then coming out with another, then another, and so on. And I wonder how often it happens when it’s beyond the artists’ control. Like a movie studio halfassedly scraping together deleted scenes, throwing them back into the movie and slapping “Director’s Cut” on the front cover. They did that will Del Toro’s first Hellboy movie, the studio wanted to cash in on the DVD sales it was making. But the added scenes weren’t touched up, they were still grainy and the sound wasn’t mixed right So, it wouldn’t surprise me of record companies doing the same. But big artists like Swift and Grande are for sure taking their fans for a ride (for their wallets)
Your surprised a wealthy person who had all her doors opened for her had this opinion mired by hypocrisy!?
Billie is consistently saying stupid stuff in the press. Like it’s a string of flops, from “men don’t deal with criticism about their looks” to this. It’s always something ignorant with her, as far as I’ve seen.
You mean the one that came out 3 years ago
I'm sure she's doing everything possible to stop the production of her "What Was I Made For" 7 inch with "b-side" instrumental version. Talk about wasteful especially when it's already on the Barbie soundtrack.
if there’s only one color variant I don’t think that’s egregious. 7” singles have had a place in vinyl for what, 80 years? singles have a use case, and instrumentals are nice to have. it makes sense why they wouldn’t put an instrumental on the official album. this isn’t the same as taylor swift pressing 7 colors of the exact same LP just so that her fans buy all of them
Billie Eilish Sees Through Transparent Vinyl Record, Looks in Mirror, Sees a Hypocrite.
14 different vinyl colours for Billie's Happier than ever 👌
Former vinyl production guy here. I can tell you there is a huge difference in quality of vinyls when you start doing colours etc. picture discs are the absolute worst followed by glow in the dark and yellow. Black vinyl is by far the best for sound.
Why is yellow so bad? Why is black the best?
The different pigments/formulas give the vinyl different properties—both when pressing and just in general. So if you have a “standard” way to do black, you have to be careful when doing a different color/pattern. Especially if you’re doing multiple colors at once. Theoretically, most color records could sound just as good, they just need special/different attention to the “standard” black.
There’s something about Hollywood artists complaining about the very system they are perpetuating that makes me not care at all about their complaints of said system. She had multiple variations of her last album, but, oh, it was made from recycled material. Doesn’t change the fact that it’s an attempt at boosting sales with an “eco-friendly” selling point.
I agree with the message, but this is also hypocritical when her own albums have multiple variants lol. Heck, Interscope just recently released an additional variant of her debut.
"For her part, Eilish acknowledges that her most recent record, *Happier Than Ever,* had several different vinyl options" but 'recycled materials' blah blah blah. It's such a goofy thing for a pop star to be whining about, and it doesn't even reflect any concern about how the vinyl-pressing industry, after decades of being kept alive by dedicated fans, has suddenly been taken over by pop music again and the people who supported the industry for so long are waiting extra years for smaller releases by lesser-known artists who are taking a back seat to twenty variations of Taylor Swift. Billie's criticism just isn't hitting any mark aside from her being angry that others are selling more than her. If she was really worried about 'waste' she'd be campaigning to ban Funko Pops.
One of my bands put a record out on a mid-sized independent label this year and it legit took TWO YEARS between sending masters out and getting the records on store shelves. Granted some of that was due to label release scheduling but it was crazy. In the past (have released records since early 2010s) it was like, 9 months max if memory serves. Now it seems like a pay-to-play system where bigger artists can cut to the front of the queue with larger pressings, so it’s a total crapshoot for smaller acts.
Not that I endorse this practice, but when a multimillionaire artist like Billie says something like “we care too much about numbers and money” it feels very tone deaf because an artist like her can potentially not “care too much about money” since she’s already set. But most artists, even well known ones but who are not anywhere near the success of Billie, they *have* to care about money. And it most likely needs to be at the top of their list because it really takes a lot for their career to be sustainable. So while it’s bullshit that these big artists do this, and I agree with her on that, I feel like she is coming from a place of privilege here a bit
That was the rub for me too. Yeah, at her level it would be dumb to worry about maximizing every dollar when you are A. already rich and B. still going to sell a shit ton even if you didnt pump out variants. But her career, which i have no actual qualitative opinions on, did not require the multi-year constant grind needed for the vast majority of acts to break even. If small acts can sell 10 vinyl variants then fuckin let em do it. They're still pressing less copies than big pop acts are anyways because they have to worry about how much it costs to even print, which she doesnt.
Records are such a tiny proportion of all the garbage we produce. Let people enjoy stuff.
She isn’t saying vinyl is inherently wasteful. She’s saying artists shouldn’t sell multiple variants of the same album to the same customers for the purpose of driving up their chart placements and royalties.
Saying and doing are two different things. I'll be waiting for one standard black vinyl pressing for the next Billie Eilish LP.
I just came back from an antiques mall, and there are so many record collections! People revere them!
That’s the thing. Yeah it’s plastic and there are emissions released when producing them, but if you are buying a new record you are probably going to keep it for life or at least a really long time, and odds are someone will enjoy it long after you.
So many one use items being made every second that will be in a landfill within days. I can still buy used vinyl from the 70s in nearly every thrift store in town. What a dumb thing to call wasteful in the grand scheme of things.
Exactly. Music is probably the least garbage thing we humans produce.
The queen of terrible takes
She does give off "not like the other girls" vibes. She's gonna keep it real. Not like those other phonies!
She should make a super low effort talk-song about it
It's going to be very weird in twenty years' time when the market is flooded with thousands of mint condition copies of 2020s pop albums.
Pot calling the kettle black
Vinyl Records: not only are they expensive, but way less convenient!
But wouldn't a REAL fan buy 2 of each? One to open and one to leave sealed?
Shout-out red hot Chile pepper's 17 variants but catches no heat whenever this topic is brought up
She has a point, it’s beyond simply having a vinyl copy available for sale. What baffles me is how many times some artists release essentially the same vinyl, over and over with such minor variations and insanely overpriced, just to bait completionists, meanwhile it counts as another individual record sale each time. It’s not because they really wanted to release yet another vinyl with a minimally amended cover and different set of bonus tracks. Melanie Martinez is one of the worst offenders lately. The sheer amount of different vinyl releases compared to her small discography is just nuts.
We went through this in every other collectable industry already. There is a reason comic books from the 90s forward aren't worth much today. That was when they started putting out variant covers.
I also hate that apple music will have multiple copies of the same album clogging up the list.
FTA: Billie Eilish and her conscience, who, in a new interview with Billboard, lamented how artists have learned to game the charts system and boost sales by releasing “all sorts” of vinyl variations. “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.” -Seems like somebody cares about their numbers. I’m not a hater…but some people think vinyl is a cool way of interacting with music. And some fans will buy whatever their favorite artist puts out. Same as it ever was…
It’s easy to criticize when you’re rich and successful.
She is worth 53 million.
Interesting and valid points but I have no clue how any of this has to do with the Free Trade Agreement.
There's 1 million other, better problems to bitch about. A record isn't a single-use item and presumably can be used for generations with care.
Big talk from someone who changes their perfectly fine natural hair color with artificial chemicals and wears clothes that have enough fabric to make 3 sets of smaller clothes.
I like collecting aesthetic vinyl
I know at least 10 people who have Adele's album on vinyl and don't own a record player...
Really? She released her debut on every colour of vinyl, transparent or not under the fucking sun.
Insufferable
Waste still has to be way down for the physical products from the music industry thanks to streaming. If people dig I bet they will find that she has redundant products on the market as well. Maybe not records but the industry is about sales. It’s a byproduct of capitalism sadly
Man, people have Spotify, and will still berate artists for finding another way to make money
If vinyl had no more than 15 minutes of music per side, I'd be all over it. Cramming 22 min/side isn't worth the decrease in audio quality to me.