Michael Stipe to Release World’s First Commercially Available Bioplastic 12″ Vinyl

Want to own a piece of music history? Now you can,

That’s right, Michael Stipe has announced that he will release the world’s first commercially available bioplastic 12″ vinyl record, with music from him and Beatie Wolfe, in support of EarthPercent.

The new record will feature “Future If Future” by Stipe and “Oh My Heart” by Wolfe. And it’s set to launch on Friday (September 2).

This will be the first bioplastic vinyl, which encompasses an environmental design solution by Evolution Music that is “a genuinely revolutionary moment for both the music industry and record collectors,” reads the press statement, “offering a non-fossil fuel future for vinyl recordings that globally is c180 million LPs (or 30,000 tonnes of PVC) a year.

“The solution uses circular economy principles to replace the harmful production and use of single-use plastics and minimize waste in the music industry. Making it easy to make the change by producing bioplastic LPs (instead of PVC) using the record pressing plants’ existing machinery and production processes.”

“I’m thrilled to be working with EarthPercent and Evolution Music on this release, imagining positive innovation through action,” says Stipe of the new offering. “Simply showing that this type of solution-based project is possible opens pathways to a brighter future”

Adds Wolfe, “It’s been fantastic to join forces with EarthPercent on the environmental front and for this very special release with Michael Stipe. I’m constantly thinking about how we can take the best of the old and best of the new, bridge the tangible and digital, and reclaim as much as we innovate and this new eco vinyl feels like a perfect embodiment of this. I wrote ‘Oh My Heart’ as a cry for the planet and humanity and it was recently encoded in glass and included in the Global Music Vault in Svalbard to be preserved for 10,000 years. So I couldn’t think of a better way to have it tangibly out in the world now.”

The new environmentally-friendly 12″ will be limited to 500 copies and will be the first commercially available release on bioplastic vinyl.

The release is part of the EarthPercent Bandcamp project of over 100 tracks, featuring artists like Hot Chip, Nile Rogers, Big Thief, Anna Calvi, Peter Gabriel, and many more to be simultaneously available as a single download collection.

(Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)