It's one thing to openly release different versions of the same song or album; it's quite another to deceive fans into thinking they're buying the finished product when in fact it's still a work in progress. The Guardian's Adam Benzine has shone light on "the year's worst pop trend" - one of which Charli XCX, Olivia Rodrigo, Raye and more are all guilty: "fans paying the highest price to pre-order what is ostensibly the most desirable, collectible or elaborate edition of an album are instead receiving incomplete or unpolished versions of the music".
The justification given, inevitably, is that vinyl pressing involves such long lead times that albums are being submitted half-baked, with further tweaks and indeed substantial alterations being made during the production process, meaning that the versions available for streaming end up being significantly different.
That's no excuse, of course - those lead times should simply be factored in. It's unethical to expect fans to shell out for LPs in advance in full knowledge that you'll continue to tinker away on the album while their copies are being pressed.
But the pop industry has never cared much for ethics, and Raye's suggestion that the substandard vinyl version could become a collectible is telling: a new means of exploiting fans can - and no doubt will - be marketed as benefitting them.
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