Music Sustainability Summit
The Music Sustainability Summit has announced programming for its second annual conference, happening Feb. 3 at Solotech Studios Los Angeles. Focused on developing solutions to climate change within the music industry, the event will feature the following talks and panels: C-suite Conversation: What it Takes to Prioritize Sustainability: a conversation with amusic industry executive about […]
The Music Sustainability Summit (MSS) has announced programming for its next event, which is set to take place on Feb. 3, 2025, at Solotech Studios in Los Angeles. Produced by the Music Sustainability Alliance (MSA), the second edition of the conference will focus on solutions to climate change’s effects on the music industry, with special […]
The first-ever North American music industry climate summit is growing.
The inaugural Music Sustainability Summit has announced that due to high demand, it’s moving the event from the USC campus to the 2,300-capacity The Novo in downtown Los Angeles.
Set to take place on Feb. 4, the summit will feature a day’s worth of discussions on how the music industry is addressing, adapting to and finding solutions for the climate crisis.
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In addition to the summit’s previously announced programming, the event has added a conversation with promoters and venues including Lindsay Arell, the chief sustainability officer of ASM Global; Lucy August-Perna, the head of global sustainability at Live Nation Entertainment; Erik Distler, the vp of sustainability at AEG; and Kristen Fulmer, the head of sustainability at Oak View Group and GOAL. The discussion will focus on challenges, bright spots and visions for the future.
Additionally, the summit has added a conversation between representatives from several major labels, including Olga LaBelle, the vp/head of ESG at Warner Music Group. Representatives from two other labels will be announced in the coming weeks.
Newly added speakers include Jonathan Foley, the executive director of Project Drawdown; Cassie Lee, the CEO of Sound Future; Adam Met of the band AJR, who also serves as the executive director of Planet Reimagined and a professor at Columbia University; artist Beattie Wolfe; artist AY Young; Jett Glozier, the global head of infrastructure at Sound Diplomacy; Jon Ozaksut, the digital director at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication; and Rita Kampalath, the chief sustainability offer of L.A. County.
Tickets for the summit are on sale now and available on a sliding scale. The doors open at 8:30 a.m., with programming beginning promptly at 9 a.m. and running until 5:30 p.m.
The event is being organized by the Music Sustainability Alliance, which provides science-based solutions, business case analyses, best practices and tools for operational change across the music industry. The Alliance reports that a diverse group of attendees has already registered for the event, including big names in climate science and sustainability, along with music industry professionals from venues, promoters, agencies, production companies, artist management companies and more.
“Every job is a climate job,” the Music Sustainability Alliance’s Amy Morrison tells Billboard.
Billboard is the official media partner of the Music Sustainability Summit.
With climate change having widespread effects across the music industry, a new conference will provide education and create action regarding what the music world can do to address the crisis.
The Music Sustainability Summit launches Feb. 5 in Los Angeles and is being produced by The Music Sustainability Alliance, an organization that provide science-based solutions, business case analyses, best practices, and tools for operational change across the industry.
The Summit is the first of its kind in North America.
Happening the day after the Grammy Awards, the event will be moderated by GreenBiz Group chairman and co-founder Joel Makower and feature members of MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative, climate change and food justice focused organization Support+Feed, industry environmental nonprofit REVERB, climate organization Planet Reimagined and global sustainability company ClimeCo. The Summit’s partner is Circular Unity, an organization focused on climate change as it relates to the entertainment industry.
The conference is intended to create alignment within the industry by bringing stakeholders on board to commit to climate action. The Summit will include the establishment of working groups meant to ensure that climate organizations are in the rooms with the key decision makers across the industry. Organizers hope that by the end of the day, those in attendance will have committed to the first steps in the industry’s collective action.
“There’s so much good work people are doing, but nobody knows about it,” says Music Sustainability Alliance co-founder and president Amy Morrison. “A goal of the conference, and what inspired it, is to help people to stop reinventing the wheel, to provide resources and get people talking and collaborating. This is a community. The power of all of this together is so much greater than individual actions.”
Hosted on the USC campus, the day-long conference will be structured into two parts, with morning programming focused on education and getting stakeholders on the same page and afternoon programming geared towards action about what the industry can do to mitigate its carbon footprint.
Along with panel discussions, a team from MIT will present a climate-focused map of the entire music industry, and the conference will provide educational materials so that even people just starting to learn about climate science will be able to follow along.
“We welcome all, the climate curious and the climate experts,” says Morrison. “There will be something for everybody.”
Tickets for the Summit are available on a sliding scale, between $25 and $200.
The Music Sustainability Alliance has already been busy bringing together stakeholders. A July organizing call had more than 30 representatives from businesses including UTA, CAA and WME, along with Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music, along with AEG and Live Nation and a number of managers and nonprofit organizations that work in the climate action space.
“It was really the first time ever all of these people had gotten on the phone together and been in a meeting to actually talk about sustainability,” says Morrison, who was the svp of marketing at Concerts West for more than two decades. “One of things that we find is really important to remember is that everybody’s job is a climate job, and there’s something that we can all do in our daily jobs.”
“It really is about working together and not working in these silos,” adds Music Sustainability Alliance director Eleanore Anderson. “It really is amazing working in these neutral parties and seeing everyone come together.”
Founded during the pandemic, the Music Sustainability Alliance is composed of music industry veterans, companies and scientists who are addressing innovation and sustainability converging in the music industry. The Alliance and the Summit both put a strong emphasis on data, research and science.
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