Ableton co-founder Robert Henke thinks we should ditch vinyl and "fully embrace CDs"

In a lengthy Facebook post, Robert Henke of Ableton has put forward a case arguing that CDs are the way forward for physical product releases.

He says that due to the environmental impact of vinyl, he is considering not doing any more vinyl releases and instead wants to “fully embrace CDs”.

He starts the post by explaining that “manufacturing big heavy plates of plastic and having them shipped around the globe is a huge waste of energy and resources,” and says that for that reason, he plans to ditch vinyl.

Read this next: The vinyl straw: Why the vinyl industry is at breaking point

However, due to physical products still being a love for the Ableton co-founder, he is now thinking about opting for CDs instead — calling CDs “underrated”.

Henke’s Facebook post puts forward seven key points: shipping prices and fuel; energy consumption of streaming; longevity of CDs; no more making new vinyl; everyone doing a small part; using CDs as a preferred medium; and vinyl being a luxury product.

Robert Henke makes many references to the environmental impact of vinyl releases, which appears to be the biggest reason for his decision to make the potential switch.

According to the New Statesman, there is 979g of carbon in the material of a vinyl disk, whereas there is only 288g of carbon in the material of a CD with a case.

Read this next: Is the vinyl resurgence actually helping dance music?

As this Conversation article states, CDs are generally made of a mix of polycarbonate and aluminium - rather than a derivative of crude oil which is used to create vinyl records.

Research done by Keele University, used in New Statesman, has also found that if you listen to an album for five hours - streaming has a worse environmental impact than a CD does.

This is because the CO2 released over time through streaming, caused by the power usage of trying to get data from where the music is stored to the device in which it is playing, is much higher than that of creating a CD and then playing it out on a player.

Henke also made a comment about how buying and selling old, vintage vinyl is “great”, however, he sees the production of new vinyl as a potential problem.

Read this next: UK vinyl spending set to surpass CDs for the first time since 1987

In October, Mixmag published a deep-dive investigation into the rise and fall of vinyl. It ultimately finds and argues that the vinyl industry in its current state is unsustainable and that there is a scarcity of resources and a growing amount of labels who are ditching vinyl releases altogether. Read it here.

Read Robert Henke’s full Facebook post here.

Aneesa Ahmed is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter