Since its release last week, Beyonce’s new album has been dubbed a ‘masterpiece’ by gushing critics and devoted fans alike.
Although Cowboy Carter has been met with worldwide praise, the singer has angered a group of fans by not putting the album’s bonus tracks on the vinyl version.
In failing to do so, the Texas Hold ‘Em singer has fallen into the same trap as Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish in recent years.
The A-List stars have been slammed for not putting all the tracks on each vinyl and releasing multiple ‘limited edition’ versions to make even more money.
One moaned on TikTok: ‘It’s such a shame because Ya Ya is probably up there with my top five favourite songs at the moment. I’m quite miffed.’
Another added: ‘It appears that several songs from the album are NOT included in the LP. What is up with that?!’
In a recent interview with Billboard, Billie Eilish hit out at the trend and said: ‘It’s some of the biggest artists in the world making f***ing 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.’
Here FEMAIL delves into the ‘wasteful’ vinyl trend and how fans are being short-changed out of additional music.
Taylor Swift
In October 2022, Taylor Swift released her 12th studio album Midnights – which had multiple limited edition vinyls.
Fans were told how the back of all four different coloured vinyls made up a clock face when placed next to each other.
However, none of the limited edition vinyls included the seven additional tracks, which appeared on the ‘3am edition’.
The star later released the ‘Til Dawn’ edition of Midnights, which included three extra songs.
However, the singer then released the track ‘You’re Losing Me’ as an extra song from the Midnights Late Edition.
This prompted fans on Reddit to label Taylor the ‘queen of capitalism’ in how they were being encouraged to buy additional vinyls and CDs to listen to all her music.
One moaned: ‘I want to own a vinyl of Midnights in all its glory but the further time ticks on, the more unlikely I see it being.’
The star was also criticised by fans for releasing a limited edition Target vinyl for 1989 which featured a song exclusive to the retailer in 2023.
Posting on Reddit, one fumed: ‘Of course there will be an exclusive Target edition! How else will blondie continue to financially abuse and manipulate her fan base?!’
Another added: ‘Of course there will be because she literally milks every release for as much [money] as she can possibly get.’
Billie Eilish
Although Billie Eilish has also released multiple limited edition vinyls of her album Happier Than Ever, the star appeared to take a swipe at her contemporaries in an interview with Billboard earlier this year.
She said: ‘It’s some of the biggest artists in the world making f***ing 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.
‘It’s so wasteful, and it’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money — and it’s all your favourite artists doing that s**t.’
After being accused of criticising Taylor Swift, who has released multiple limited edition variants of her re-recordings, Billie added: ‘I wasn’t singling anyone out, these are industry-wide systemic issues.
‘When it comes to variants, so many artists release them — including ME!’
In December 2021, the singer released a Happier Than Ever vinyl in collaboration with Gucci, which included nail stickers and limited edition box.
However, Billie’s Happier Than Ever vinyls did include all 16 tracks, which are also available on CD and streaming.
Olivia Rodrigo
Following the release of her second album Guts in September 2023, Olivia Rodrigo released four limited edition vinyls.
The colours red, white, purple and blue are available to shop on her website.
But rather than omit bonus songs, Olivia made a point to include additional tracks on her vinyls.
According to Billboard, each variant has a ‘hidden song’ that plays after the last track on the album.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, one fan raged: ‘Y’all can be outraged all you want, but Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo both put four different bonus tracks on four different vinyl variants so their die hard fans would buy all of them and it is wasteful.’
Another wrote on Reddit: ‘I think a lot of thought was put into it – it was definitely intentional so that people would buy 4 copies of the same vinyl just to get all the bonus tracks.
‘Not a fan and find it pretty wasteful. I’m not going to switch records just to hear one song, ya know?’
‘I agree,’ a third said. ‘Different artwork and pressings plus more bonus songs would have made it better.’
Earlier this year, it was revealed Gen-Z women are helping to fuel the vinyl revival by buying new records from modern artists.
Some 6.5million LPs on vinyl were bought across the UK last year, making it the 16th year in a row to see growth – with stars Lana Del Rey, Kendrick Lamar and Harry Styles credited for the boom.
Experts in the industry now say that Gen Z-ers are behind the trend, whereas in the past it was more likely that middle-aged men and women would go shopping for vinyl from their younger years.
It comes as an industry group today revealed that the number of independent record shops in Britain has hit a 10-year high, with 461 indie record shops across the country – 122 more than a decade ago.
HMV’s boss Phil Halliday has previously told MailOnline Gen Z vinyl fans shopping for modern acts was a cause for optimism as his retail firm recently reopened its famous Oxford Street branch in central London.
He told the Times: ‘That’s just not it anymore. We are what people laughingly call a cool record shop in Soho.
‘But we sell more Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West than we do any other artists.’
And he described a surge in the number of young women coming in to buy vinyl, calling it ‘fantastic to see’.
He added: ‘They are coming in and they want to buy a record, not because it’s cool or their boyfriend wants one but because they want to.’
Seven of last year’s ten most popular vinyl LPs were released in 2003, led by 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) by Swift, Did You Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd by Lana Del Rey and Guts by Olivia Rodrigo.
ERA chief executive Kim Bayley, put the similar recent revival in independent stores down to them noting new spikes in physical record sales – even though many supermarkets and other high street shops have stopped offering them.
She said: ‘Despite largely being run by owner-managers, indies have seen off competition from some of the largest and best-funded companies in the land – indies have found their niche and they are here to stay.’
She about half of all vinyl sales last year were by people aged between 16 and 24, with Gen Z women tending to spend a little more than men.
