WHY VINYL IS GREENER THAN MUSIC STREAMING

What Hi-Fi? writer Joe Svetlik argues that listening has never been so environmentally friendly - provided you do it right

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Like most activities, listening to music has an environmental impact. But how you listen can make a huge difference. We have looked at the numbers, and it's good news for vinyl fans - listening to physical records is greener than streaming. Or at least it can be...

A one-off cost

On the face of it, you might think streaming would be far better for the environment than physical records. After all, streaming just involves sending information digitally, which has to be more environmentally friendly than producing, storing and shipping a physical product such as a vinyl record.

And with each 12in piece of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) weighing between 120g and 150g (and some up to 180g), the current vinyl revival surely has a devastating environmental footprint, right?

Not necessarily. While it is true that a physical product such as vinyl does come with its fair share of emissions, these are a one-off cost. Each piece of vinyl has to be produced, stored and transported only once, after all, whereas a piece of digital music brings the same cost each time it is listened to, because it has to be streamed all over again.

This cost can be substantial. It comes in the form of server farms and data connections, as well as in the routers and digital devices such as the phones or computers on which we play the music. A streamed track's carbon footprint is stamped a little bit deeper with each listen.

A calculation challenge