"How can anybody stand up and say ‘save the planet’? Artists are awful for hypocritical bandwagonery": Music exec hits out at musicians for continuing to make physical records during the climate crisis

Robin Millar, a senior record industry executive, believes that the production of physical records such as vinyl and CD's should be banned. 

In fact, Millar - who is a co-founder of artist management company Blue Raincoat Music, a renowned music producer and former member of Elton John and the Rolling Stones’ organisations - says musicians who have publicly advocated for action on the climate crisis while still continuing to produce physical records are "hypocritical".

“I am baffled that no large record company has had the backing of a big-selling artist to stop making physical records,” he tells the Guardian.

Noting of how vinyl and CDs are packaged with “chopped-down trees and plastic”, he continues: “How can anybody stand up and say ‘save the planet’? Artists are awful for hypocritical bandwagonery.”

In recent years, the music industry has undergone a resurgence in vinyl sales, however Millar believes that the sound quality of digital material now matches that of the physical product, so that there's no need to continue manufacturing them.

The musicians behind Millar's frustrations may well include The Rolling Stones, who recently announced that they'd be releasing over 43 different vinyl versions of their new album Hackney Diamonds, in spite of their public advocacy to tackle climate change in the past.

As Ultimate Classic Rock reports, in 2019, frontman Mick Jagger said (referring to President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement): "We are in a very difficult situation at the moment….where all the environmental controls that were put in place – that perhaps were just about adequate ... have been rolled back. The U.S., which should be the world leader in environmental control, has lost that and has decided to go the other way.”

Unsurprisingly, Millar's ideas have received backlash from industry shareholders, who make healthy profit from these sales. “I measure my success in record sales", he says. "The shareholders go: ‘This is terrible. We have to get out now, now, now’".

As well as the eradication of physical products, Millar suggests that musicians should stop embarking on global tours and instead screen their performances online to reduce their carbon footprint.