Tuesday 31 March 2009

What does "Green" look like for the music industry


I attended an interesting MusicTank event yesterday on whether the music industry can 'afford to go green' https://www.musictank.co.uk/events/sustainability
Fortunately, there were no trees being hugged, and it was a fairly balanced, practical, mostly factual, discussion about what could and should be done to reduce the industry's carbon footprint.


I couldn't help wonder though, whether we were in denial, truly unprepared for the major shock when we realise what it will take to live in a sustainable, low-carbon way, and what this means for music consumption. Gone will be the endless promo flyers (recycled paper or not), and the unnecessary concert merchandise (sustainable supply chain or not), and the 21-date or 50-date arena residencies with half the continent travelling to see the artist. The way I see it, our current trajectory is one of extreme sacrifice and personal behavioural change, unless there are major technological breakthroughs to reduce carbon emissions. Put simply, we need to use and consume less. End of...
And as for waiting for the government to legislate on change, personally I wont be betting the Sussex coast on it. This is just not a vote winner, because too many people do not really want to change, if it impacts their lifestyle significantly, even if they say that they "care about the environment".
Until the full cost of carbon is truly reflected in goods and services, people will still shop til they drop for unnecessary crap, and drive and fly to their hearts content. So, whilst we wait for the carbon markets to kick in (post-recession of course), the onus is on leaders (you and me, as well as the fat cats), entrepreneurs (Branson et al), opinion formers and role models (musicians, celebs and reality TV contestants), and all those who generally know better, to do better, and encourage others to do better.
That's enough preaching for one post, and I need to go take off this itchy, organic, wool shirt

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