Fred Mikardo-Greaves is a musician and writer. His musical projects have featured in the Guardian, the New Musical Express and the Quietus. He has written for publications including Vice, Bandcamp Daily and Novara Media and is currently a staff writer and editor for the online record shop/content platform Norman Records.

People are recognising the urgency of global environmental measures 

Sustainable Solutions

The climate emergency is now unquestionably one of the defining issues of the age. Since the Welsh government declared a climate emergency in December 2016, more than 1,900 local governments in 34 countries have followed suit, and in 2019, the UK government became the first to declare a national climate emergency. Given that eco concerns are important for many living in the UK, this is no surprise – in 2018, 92% of people said that they wanted to minimise their impact on the environment. 

Legal & General

Environmental discussions have been prominent in the music industry since far before those declarations were made. From the ‘flower power’ of the 1960s hippie movement to the 2007 Live Earth concert series, music fans across generations have consistently demonstrated a desire to engage with, and improve, the natural world. However, with the climate crisis worsening, recent years have seen a rise in initiatives attempting genuine moves towards sustainability. After the 2007 launch of 

, an organisation focused on climate justice in the music and culture industries, further campaigns sprung up across the globe, from the UK’s Music Declares Emergency (MDE) founded in 2019 to Green Music Australia, founded in 2013. “[The music industry] is keen and determined to be at the forefront of some kind of change focused around climate action,” says MDE co-founder and director of communications, Lewis Jamieson. 

Interview with Lewis Jamieson conducted by the author

While the onset of the pandemic in 2020 affected pretty much every sector, the way it changed the music business was seismic. For an industry so reliant on people gathering together in clubs, bars, venues, and festivals, and artist tours involving large amounts of travel, the announcement of government lockdowns saw proceedings grind to a halt. One in three jobs in the British music industry were lost in 2020, while the same year saw live music revenues collapse by 90%. 

BBC News

As unsettling as the upheavals of 2020 were, a standstill also allowed a sector heavily predicated on the movement of people, goods, and services to think about how it might hit the reset button on sustainability issues. “Before the pandemic, there have been steps like ‘we won’t use bottled water any more’ in organisations where you already have a big carbon footprint,” says Robin Smith, marketing and development officer at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//). “But I think now there is more in terms of interest in actual reporting. People are engaging with organisations which are literate in climate change.” 

Interview with Robin Smith conducted by the author

 With both recorded music consumption increasing throughout the pandemic, and live music back on the cards in the UK and many other countries, the sector is now looking at how to tally fans’ desire to see their favourite artists in concert with the fact that 83% of them are still concerned about climate change. 

Mixmag

HM Government

Streaming accounted for 83% of UK music listening in 2021. 

British Phonographic Industry

The format has significant environmental impact – when Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s ‘Despacito’ achieved 4.6 billion streams in 2017, the electricity required to support those plays was the same as the combined annual consumption of Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Sierra Leone, and the Central African Republic. 

The Face

’ has seen the record sector grow in the UK every year since 2007, vinyl production is fossil-fuel intensive and records can take 1,000 years to decompose. 

The Guardian

 “If you have a checklist,” says Jamieson, “[then] stopping using oil to make vinyl is a big one.” 

In the live sector, the number of people in the UK attending music events more than doubled between 2012 and 2019. 

Statista

 Unsurprisingly, such growth had sustainability caveats. Before the pandemic, UK music festivals produced an estimated 23,500 tonnes of waste yearly, and the average touring DJ exceeded the personal carbon allowance 17 times over. 

Clean Scene

 “Things like travel are huge – you work with so many ensembles and fly over people from other countries,” says Smith. “I don’t know if festivals will have thought as much about their footprint until the pandemic.” 

In response to these challenges, several vinyl manufacturers have begun to ‘

 which combines fragments of old LPs into new ones. Others innovate through creation. “​We’re working with a company who has just created the world’s first non-oil-based vinyl palette,” says Jamieson. “[And] green vinyl is the tip of the iceberg – there’s talk about how we ship products around the world, how we package things, where the packaging comes from, what the packaging entails…” 

As for live music, festival organisers are looking to reduce impact at both organisational and audience levels, with focus on everything from reusing plastic tents to offsetting personal carbon emissions when travelling to and from events. 

 With people increasingly conscious of living ‘

’ lives, drives towards environmentally engaged music consumption are chiming with listeners keen that their passion shouldn’t cost the earth.

Billie Eilish will be leading the ‘Overheated’ series of climate conferences

Artists and organisations engage critically on climate matters

, many environmentally-engaged drives have started across sectors in recent years. However, the ground seems particularly fertile within music, with numerous campaigns picking up the environmental baton post-pandemic in particular. 

 are just two of several prominent sustainability drives to start since 2020, and Jamieson calls the signing of the 2021 

, which committed all the global major music labels and a huge amount of independent labels to follow UN Race to Zero goals, “a major step forward”. Jamieson believes music is now “ahead of the curve” on climate action to its ability to evoke strong feelings among consumers. “In music, part of the push is about the audience. If your audience doesn’t like it, then you’ll need to change or else you’ll lose your audience.” 

Musicians have long engaged on matters of the environment, and the current generation is no different. Touring band The 1975 recently drew praise for upcycling their merchandise, a move which chimes with wider trends among consumers towards 

 Other artists like Radiohead and Dave Matthews have committed to environmentally-friendly touring. 

Rolling Stone

However, what is particularly notable is that modern artists have begun to galvanise minds on climate action in dynamic ways. For instance, alongside her London concerts in June 2022, Billie Eilish will be leading the ‘Overheated’ series of climate conferences, something which signifies the singer moving from product-based to thought-based activism. 

“Billie is engaging literally millions of her audience and the music industry in the [climate] conversation,” says Jamieson. “Since she’s announced ‘Overheated’, certain areas of the music industry which weren’t as engaged, suddenly are now.” 

 Smith concurs that even with smaller artists than Eilish, the ability to engage directly on climate matters is powerfully influential. “There are plenty of artists creating really great work that either reflects our climate and makes you aware of it [...] it makes me hopeful that smaller organisations can come together and do something they’re proud of on climate change,” says Smith. 

 It appears that when figureheads like celebrities, artists, and content creators demonstrate joined-up thinking on the climate crisis, the effects can be monumental.

Clean Scene explores alternative sustainable futures for the music industry

Gen Yers and Zers lead the charge on sustainability

No two consumer groups are more aware of the climate crisis than Gen Yers and Zers, with both stating the climate emergency to be their biggest anxiety. 

Pew Research Center

 As such, these generations are also more willing than most to take concerted, long-term action on the issue, with many Gen Zers signalling an intention to build careers around sustainability. 

 Environmental concerns also increasingly dictate the cohort’s purchasing patterns – as in Gen Zers ever-growing interest in circular consumer practices like 

Perhaps ironically, Gen Yers and Zers are arguably those driving the listening trends contributing to the music industry’s carbon footprint. Around half of vinyl buyers in the UK are under 35, while 63% of Gen Zers stream music on a daily basis. 

Reader’s Digest

Digital Music News

 These statistics hold for live music consumption among the demographics – 61.5% of 

 come from Gen Yers and Zers, a figure which is likely to hold or increase on account of how getting back to 

 events post-pandemic ranks as a high priority for both Gen Yers and Zers. 

Festival Pro

YPulse

Given these twin interests, it’s no surprise that these generations demand more from companies on the climate. In fact, 66% of Gen Yers, and 79% of Gen Zers think that brands are never honest or not honest enough about how eco-friendly their products are. 

Futerra

 “There is sense in future-proofing your business,” says Jamieson. “[If your label wants to sign] the next big artist, who will be coming from the generation who are most engaged with this because they’re most threatened by this, one of the very first questions they’re likely to ask you is ‘what’s your policy on sustainability and climate justice?’ If you can’t answer that, they’re probably not going to sign to you [...] it’s a social contract issue.” 

 When it comes to younger generations, it isn’t enough to pay lip-service to the climate crisis – organisations need to be able to demonstrate multifaceted, ongoing commitment to genuine sustainability.

Earth Percent is a charity helping the music industry support impactful causes

With 80% of people in advanced economies willing to change how they live and work to help reduce the effects of climate change, it’s clear that people now understand that the climate crisis is a holistic issue, and want holistic approaches to the problem from brands and industries. 

Pew Research Centre

 In music, detailed research distinguishes recent drives around sustainability. The Clean Scene report contained a concerted statistical analysis of dance music’s environmental impact, an approach learned from a 2019 

 by the band Massive Attack and Manchester University’s Tyndall Centre. “[It] is becoming a gold standard for [sustainable] touring,” says Jamieson. Both papers acknowledge the necessity to think about climate impact in a way which extends beyond the venue or record shop, detailing the need for inter-industry work in order to combat how, as Jamieson says, “80% or so of the carbon emissions involved with live music are audience travel.” 

“The majority of the UK population believes we are facing a climate emergency, but you ask them what to do and that majority fragments quite quickly,” says Jamieson. Indeed, 92% of Britons say that minimising their impact on the environment is important to them, but opinion is split as to whether individuals, government, or businesses should take the lead. 

 common, and only 20% of shoppers believing brands’ sustainability claims, consumers want both in-depth engagement on climate issues and simultaneous acknowledgement that the issue requires patience. 

 “None of us [at hcmf//] are climate change experts, and it would be disingenuous to act as if we know what we’re doing,” says Smith. “We’re not telling people that we are now as green as we can be, which means there’s a bit of accountability.” 

 Organisations demonstrating ongoing learning, combined with both thought- and product-based activism, is key for gaining trust on the climate.

From the successes of fan-focused music platforms such as 

 to the way 69% of Gen Zers find community through music, music’s power to build strong bonds makes it an ideal space in which to agitate for wider societal change. 

 “[At hcmf//] we’re trying to amplify audience voices,” says Smith. “It’s something which isn’t just done as an organisation, but as a community of people in the contemporary music world.” 

 Particularly when prominent figures like artists get involved, the ability to connect on activist matters allows music organisations to meet audiences on a level playing field. “Culture is really good at taking complex things and turning them into simple ideas,” says Jamieson. “You can get bogged down in counting carbon, or saying it’s too expensive, or asking ‘how will we do this?’ What culture can do is go’ ‘yes, but look what you can win’.” 

The average touring DJ exceeds the personal carbon allowance 

 of Britons are concerned about climate change

 of people in advanced economies are willing to change how they live and work to help reduce the effects of climate change

Changing industry practices around product- and thought-based activism chime with wider trends towards circular, conscious consumption

The music industry’s response to the climate crisis is distinguished by rigorous, in-depth research

Music organisations are willing to admit they don’t have all the answers – yet – in order to gain trust

Lewis Jamieson is one of the founding members of Music Declares Emergency. He has signed artists as an A&R at 4AD, run press and publicity campaigns for a host of bands including BRIT and Mercury Award winners Elbow and live events such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, and managed international acts including the reformed Slowdive. Using his long-standing music industry experience and contacts, Jamieson has curated a clear vision for Music Declares Emergency that has seen the organisation engage with climate issues across the globe, working with leading businesses and high-profile artists.

Robin Smith is the marketing and development officer at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//), the UK’s largest international festival of new and experimental music. He also works as a freelance copywriter and journalist within the music industries.

United Kingdom

Media and Entertainment

Citizenship

The pandemic saw the music industry refocus its attention on climate matters as it came to a standstill. With artists, organisations, and audiences now engaging in the climate crisis conversation, what can the sector do to highlight these telling truths about sustainability going forward?

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