Kyle Devine | Longreads | July 14, 2026 | 2,384 words (9 minutes)
“Vinyl in the Veins” is an excerpt from Recomposed: Music, Climate, Crisis, Change by Kyle Devine, published by Verso on July 14, 2026. This piece is adapted from chapters one and two of the book.
Vinyl record sales in the US have increased for 19 consecutive years, surpassing $1 billion in revenue in 2025. As vinyl’s popularity has surged, so has scrutiny of its environmental cost—and the music industry’s efforts to address it. In this excerpt from his new book Recomposed: Music, Climate, Crisis, Change, Kyle Devine takes us inside the industry behind that boom, from a Hollywood conference room to a record-pressing plant near Vancouver. He introduces us to some of the companies working to green the industry, exploring a crucial question: What does the record of the future look like?
—Cheri Lucas Rowlands
“Slice my veins,” the CEO says, teasing the audience in front of her. “Little plastic pellets will probably come out instead of blood.”
