Billie Eilish scolds ‘wasteful’ musicians for creating multiple versions of vinyls

Billie Eilish has committed to being as “sustainable” as possible in her work. Photo / AP

Billie Eilish has branded fellow musicians “wasteful” for releasing their music via collectable vinyls to boost sales.

The 22-year-old pop star has committed to being as “sustainable” as possible in her work by embracing recyclable materials and making sure her tours are as green as possible by banning disposable plastics from her shows and providing plant-based meals for her crew – and she’s now hit out at some of the “biggest artists in the world” for creating multiple different versions of the same vinyls to encourage fans to buy more.

She told Billboard: “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.

“I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is. It is right in front of our faces and people are just getting away with it left and right, and 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 ... 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”

She added: “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 – and it’s all your favourite artists doing that [stuff].”

Eilish’s 2021 release Happier Than Ever was launched with eight different vinyl variants but the black versions were made from recycled vinyl and used shrink wrap made from sugar cane while the coloured ones were also created using recycled materials.

The singer added of her campaign for sustainability: “It’s a never-ending ... fight. As we all know, it’s pretty impossible to force someone to care. All you can do is express and explain your beliefs.”