Sustainable Sounds

The push for a greener Scottish music industry is gaining momentum

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BUYING music is back. Sales and streams of recorded music hit a 20-year high in the UK last year, according to the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association. This was helped by the ever-growing popularity of vinyl records - sales of which grew for the 17th consecutive year to £196 million.

While undoubtedly this is good news for the music industry, there is a darker side to that growth. Because 6.7 million records... Well, that's a lot of plastic.

It's a paradox that is beginning to bother eco-conscious music fans. The majority of vinyl records are made from PVC - polyvinyl chloride, one of the most environmentally damaging plastics, which can take nearly 500 years to biodegrade if it ends up in landfill.

There is joy and ritual in sliding a record from its sleeve, dropping the needle and admiring the carefully curated artwork - but with stars like Taylor Swift releasing multiple coloured variants of recordings, alongside custom display shelves, there is an argument that some of this stuff will never be played at all.

If that's true, do we need records at all, musicologist Professor Matt Brennan of the University of Glasgow asks.