Making records out of recycled plastic bottles for Coldplay and Lorde

2026-07-15

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Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. This week, Stu and Joe are still on their summer holidays in Rhyl, but before they packed their bags, they had a chat with the team behind EcoRecord. It's a PVC-free, injection-moulded alternative to the traditional vinyl record, which cuts factory energy use by up to 85%, and swaps PVC for recyclable PET plastic. Recently, artists like Coldplay and Lorde have released versions of their albums using the process.We chatted to Sven Deutschmann, CEO of record manufacturer Sonopress, about what...

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. This week, Stu and Joe are still on their summer holidays in Rhyl, but before they packed their bags, they had a chat with the team behind EcoRecord. It's a PVC-free, injection-moulded alternative to the traditional vinyl record, which cuts factory energy use by up to 85%, and swaps PVC for recyclable PET plastic. Recently, artists like Coldplay and Lorde have released versions of their albums using the process.

We chatted to Sven Deutschmann, CEO of record manufacturer Sonopress, about what he's learned over the last two years of production, whether the records sound as good as traditional vinyl, how Coldplay have switched all of their back catalogue from PVC to PET, and if most records will be made this way in the future. (Plus, Joe gets very excited by some gold and silver coloured records.)

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠, Stu and Joe prop themselves up at the bar – in this week's bonus material:

Ecological vinyl roundup: what other types of ecologically-friendly records are there anyway; and how big a difference can these records make?
A Little Grandad Update - the band are playing Sŵn, and it got Joe and Stu talking about...
Band names!: which are are the good bands with bad band names, and bad bands with good band names? Are there any good bands with good names? Band names discussed include: Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Teardrop Explodes and Nickelback!

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As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠

See you next week!

Stuart and Joe

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