Good Neighbor’s Vinyl Revolution: Sound, Sustainability, and the Future of Analog Records 

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Randall Roberts
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Good Neighbor

Good Neighbor’s fully recyclable PET vinyl pressings combine superior sound quality with sustainability.

Tim Anderson and Scotty Coats remember the moment that proved they were onto something with Good Neighbor. “Joe Harley from Blue Note was listening to one of our PET pressings, and he pointed out that the tonearm wasn’t moving,” Anderson recently told me. “At first, we didn’t think much of it, but then Joe explained that the tonearm wasn’t moving at all, which just doesn’t happen with PVC,” Anderson added, highlighting the precision of the PET pressings they were testing. 

Harley, known as Blue Note’s “Tone Poet” for his work on audiophile vinyl reissues, was taken with the clarity and precision of the PET pressings, especially the way the stylus cleanly tracked the groove. His observation confirmed for Anderson and Coats that PET wasn’t just an environmentally friendly alternative to PVC—it was worth taking seriously in the audiophile realm. 

For decades, vinyl records have been made with PVC (polyvinyl chloride), a material known for its flexibility and ability to capture so-called analog warmth. The problem, says Coats: “PVC’s production releases harmful byproducts, like dioxins, and recycling it is extremely difficult.” Anderson and Coats wanted to find a better solution, and they found it in PET (polyethylene terephthalate), a material commonly used in water bottles. “It’s fully recyclable and so much cleaner to produce,” Anderson said. “Plus, the sound quality was a revelation.”

Coats was gobsmacked learning about the process. “My entire life, I had heard that you need the PVC to capture the sound and the warmth of the analog recording. And what we found is that’s just simply not true.” 

From left: Scotty Coats, Tim Anderson, and Jonny O’Hara of Good Neighbor.

The breakthrough with PET wasn’t happening in isolation. Across the vinyl industry, others have also been exploring ways to move away from traditional PVC. Evolution Music in the UK introduced Evovinyl, a plant-based alternative made from sugarcane, which reduces energy consumption by 30% and can be composted. BioVinyl, developed by Edel and PlastChem, uses bio-based PVC derived from recycled cooking oil and industrial waste gases, cutting down on CO2 emissions. Anderson and Coats had been following the activity of a Dutch company called Green Vinyl, especially a video “of them making records in a new way — injection mold — and they’re using PET. It immediately triggered all these cool thoughts.”  

Both Anderson and Coats brought deep industry experience to the project. Anderson had been an A&R executive for Capitol Records, where he co-wrote and produced tracks for artists like Christina Aguilera, Solange, 21 Pilots, and Banks. Coats, who managed vinyl releases for Capitol Music Group and Virgin Music Group, among others, was known as a go-to vinyl expert. “I was the guy with the record player in my office, so everyone came to me with their test pressings,” Coats told me. “Even though vinyl sales were booming, it was clear that many people didn’t fully understand how to handle the format.” 

Coats, like most in the industry, had long believed PVC was the only option for quality sound. “That’s just what we thought, but hearing those first PET pressings from Green Vinyl Records changed everything.” 

In 2020, Anderson made the decision to leave Capitol Records and reached out to Coats. “I asked Scotty, ‘What do you think if we chase this idea down?’” Anderson recalled. “They had this brilliant invention, but they didn’t know how to market it. That’s where Scotty came in—he knows how to sell vinyl better than anyone.” 

Coats was immediately on board. Together, they brought in sustainable plastics expert Reyna Bryan as CEO and co-founder and Jonny O’Hara, a production veteran from Virgin Records, to help rethink the entire vinyl production process.

Bryan said she had questions before deciding to come on board. “When Tim and Scotty first showed me this opportunity, I thought, ‘Who buys records? Isn’t that an outdated product?’ They showed me that this was actually a growth industry, but struggling to pivot into the modern age where sustainability is key. Once I looked at what this technology is capable of, I realized we could shift an existing supply chain while simultaneously transitioning the product to a non-toxic material family. That’s huge.” 

“We’re not demonizing vinyl. We love vinyl. We just want to find an alternative way to make it. PET ticks all the boxes.”

Tim Anderson

For his part, O’Hara had been fielding questions from creators. “As more people were stepping back into the world of vinyl, a lot of artists were like, ‘Is there an eco-friendlier alternative?’,” O’Hara told Billboard in June. “There were better options coming online, but they were never to the same degree as Good Neighbor.” 

They founded Good Neighbor with the mission of combining superior sound quality with sustainability. Anderson’s elevator pitch? “Vinyl had made a huge comeback in the 2010s, but the production methods hadn’t evolved since the mid-20th century. It wasn’t enough to just ride the nostalgia wave—we wanted to push vinyl into the future.” 

Anderson and Coats saw this resurgence play out in mainstream culture, driven by commercial hitmakers embracing the format. “It wouldn’t matter if it weren’t for the Taylor Swifts, the Lanas, and the Billies,” Anderson said. “They brought vinyl back into the spotlight. We wouldn’t be launching this company if vinyl was still just a niche thing—it’s a big deal again, and that’s why it matters.” 

Good Neighbor was so taken with Dutch manufacturer Green Vinyl that they recently secured the exclusive rights to market and sell their product — and are in the process of acquiring the company. In addition to a plant in the Netherlands, a new North Carolina plant is opening on Jan. 1. So far, Good Neighbor has pressed records for Touch & Go-signed bands Slint, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jesus Lizard, Shellac, and others; DIIV’s killer Frog in Boiling Water; Cate Le Bon’s great “Rock Pool” EP; and Strut Records’ new reissue of the Lafayette Afro-Rock Band’s Soul Makossa.  

For North American clients, Anderson says, the North Carolina facility will be a game-changer. “A lot of our relationships are here, and there’s a lot of groups and labels that are excited to be ordering records and driving them a few hours instead of having to wait for a boat or fly them. Since sustainability is the key to why we did this, we have to hold everything to that standard.” 

“We’re not demonizing vinyl,” Anderson said. “We love vinyl. We just want to find an alternative way to make it. PET ticks all the boxes. Artists were already asking, ‘Can we make vinyl less toxic?’ And now we can.” 

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