Resources for becoming a more sustainable musician/music lover

Green Swag

Your band’s t-shirt is a great promotional tool and a fantastic souvenier. Too bad t-shirts and other clothing rank fourth in producing carbon emissions, after transportation, food, and housing.

We are researching and sharing companies, practices, and inspirations for going the sustainable way with your swag.

Check our article out about each stage of having more sustainable shirts.

Promotion

Putting up a flyer in the local coffee shop is a rite of passage for many musicians. Then a poster. Then print many posters, stickers, cd cases, and so on. 

Musicians have been trying to figure out how to promote music in more earth friendly ways. We are sharing their ideas and resources.

Touring

The music indsustry is finally taking reducing the climate impact of touring. Reports commissioned by the bands Massive Attack and Coldplay are setting out guidelines for global tours.

Younger artists like AY Young and his Battery Tour and Dane Myers, powering concerts with his Tesla are changing touring for smaller tours. Stay tuned!

Northshore Printing

Northshore Printing has shirts, masks, and printed items that are environmentally friendly. Also, check out this inspiration about another eco-friendly way to have tour shirts.

Founders Mike and Ethan with Sea Us Rise t shirts

A Greener Festival

AGF is a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving sustainability of events, tours, venues, festivals and all live sector contributors

Recycle Used Strings

D’Addario has an instrumental strings recycle program, Playback. Keep them out of landfills!

Charity Stow playing guitar

Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music
by Kyle Devine

Sea Us Rise's How to Green Your Schools booklet

Making and recording music has always used the earth’s resources. Decomposed, a prize winning book, explores the history of music recordings and how the digital age of music making and listening impacts the planet.

Download our How to Green Your Schools Booklet download for students, teachers, parents and all planet lovers. Simple clear steps on how to take action to make your school more earth friendly.  

school book cover titled How to Green Your Schools

Sustainable Picks

Picks made from sustainable materials like wood or recycled stuff are better for the environment, especially since picks can’t be recycled. Thomann  makes wooden ones. Pigtrum makes compostable ones.
compostable guitar pics

Greener Booking Agency

Encore Musicians claims that they are the world’s most sustainable booking agency. They plant trees and support sustainable projects for every booking, and help with carbon offsets.

 

Encore is the world's most sustainable way to book musicians on a background of trees

Roadmap to Low Carbon Live Music

The band Massive Attack worked with UK’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to publish this report: Live Music Roadmap  Watch this video to find our more.

Trees of Music

Trees of Music is focusing on making classical music more sustainable through planting the Pernambuco tree in Brazil. Pernambuco is used in bow-making. Planting these trees will regreen parts of Brazil; provide sustainable livelihoods for farmers, and ease Pernambuco tree loss.
trees of music logo

Are green CDs possible?

Discmakers reports that while actual cds (are people still using cds?) have to be made of plastic, there are a lot of ways to green the process. Recycling, using vegetable based inks, and lighter non-plastic packaging helps. Conversely, GreenDisk helps dispose of technotrash.

Julie’s Bicycle & other UK programmes

Julie’s Bicycle was created provide and share sustainable resources with musicians. You can see their infographics that help you think about facets of shows that can be greened.

Great Example: Jack Johnson Greening Music

Musician Jack Johnson has shown a 100% commitment to environmental protection for decades. Musicians can visit his sites (he has several music/environmental/community foundations) to see how it is done well.
musician Jack Johnson playing guitar

The Big Event Companies Make Green Commitments

Who will hold them to it? If you are a festival/concert goer, here are the links to their commitments. Live Nation’s Green Nation; AEG’s Climate Positive Touring; Tour Production Group (TPG) started a working group, to name a few.
Aerle Taree & Speech at GMF

A Greener Rider from A Greener Festival

A Greener Festival has provided short and longer versions of their Greener Rider. The riders include banning single use plastics; promoting vegan or locally sourced non-vegan food; recycling, and much more.
Screenshot of green rider

Listen Sustainably

House of Marley, and yes, it was founded by one of Bob Marley’s sons, creates audio devices out of recycled materials. These headphones, for example, are ” designed with FSC certified wood, recyclable aluminum, our eco-friendly REWIND™ fabric, durable stainless steel, and delivered in 100% recyclable packaging.”

Dance Powered Club

SWG3, a club in Glasgow powers it’s lights, sound system, air conditioning and heat, and other electric systems by using the body heat generated on the dance floor. 

 

 

dance-floor-gb6ff9c3be_1920

Vinyl is getting better

Vinyl records are made of plastic, so there is room for improvement. Lots of innovation in this area. Unified Manufacturing uses 100% wind power, soy ink, and other sustainable practices. Dutch group Green Vinyl Records who are revolutionizing record making and materials.
vinyl at wmnf

Meadows in the Mountain Music Fest

MMMF is an amazing music fest nestled in a Bulgarian mountain range. This decade old fest is dedicated to being green. Vendors don’t supply cups or bottles, food is composted, and eco-toilets are used. 

 

colorful meadows in the mountain flyer

Offset Your Tour's Carbon Footprint

Right now we haven’t yet figured out how to significantly reduce our impact on the planet. At least we can amend some of the damage through carbon offsets. CarbonFund.org is one group that helps do that for festivals, individuals, organizations, and more.

carbon atom

Clean Vibes

Clean Vibe’s mission and business plan is to help music festivals and their attendees lesson their climate impact. They focus on sustainable waste management, which is an area that all festivals can pretty swiftly pivot to.


plastic waste on the ground at a music festival

Sustainable Travel Guide for Artists & Music Industry

The Journal of Music just shared this Sustainable Travel Guide. It breaks down different ways touring can be made less harmful to the planet. Musicians and fans care! You can download the guide here.

Music Declares Emergency Climate Pack

Music Declares Emergency, the great artist led environmental group, has put together a helpful kit for musicians, recording professionals, venues, and fans. You can download it here

Kendal Calling Music Fest Sustainability Pledge

Want to see a great example of a sustainability pledge for a music fest? We knew you would! Here is Kendal Calling’s version. We hope it inspires other fests to follow suit. 

 

Eco Friendly Packaging from PaperFoam

PaperFoam makes internal and external packaging from natural fibers. Get rid of plastic in your shipping, cd cases, etc. They say their packaging is 100% compostable.

Songs for Teaching

Songs for Teaching is a for-profit company that works with teachers. They provide playlists for recycling, appreciation of nature, alternative energy, and even science musicals.


Environmental Music List from Listen to the Earth

Listen to the Earth is a non-profit, similar to Sea Us Rise. They understand that there is music out there that can inspire people to take climate action. They have a list of 5,000+ songs. 

Biodegradable Festival Wristbands

Innofest has biodegradable festival wristbands which have seeds in them. Right now the inventor is seeking to expand production. Other versions include bamboo wristbands and ones made from recycled materials.

biodegradable wristbands

Figure Out Your Carbon Footprint

We write a lot about carbon offsets. Here is a carbon calculator to help you figure out your carbon footprint. Just a tip, your power company has your monthly energy usage in your account settings.

Festival Toilets Go Green (in a good, not gross, way)

Not a big part of the discussion, but if you are at a festival, eventually you’re going to need the loo. Loowatt enters the chat. Chemical and energy free, the toilet compresses and stores waste, then processes for biofuels or fertilizer. 

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