sustainability
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LONDON — European independent labels trade body IMPALA is rolling out its carbon footprint calculator project to the U.S. as part of a free one-year pilot to help American music companies measure and reduce their emissions.
IMPALA first launched a carbon calculator in Europe in 2022 in partnership with U.K. sustainability charity Julie’s Bicycle. The resource is designed to help record labels track their environmental impact by measuring energy and water use, staff commuting and business travel, as well as the manufacture and distribution of physical products such as vinyl records or merchandise.
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), which represents more than 600 independently owned U.S. labels, is partnering with IMPALA on the pilot. The carbon calculator project is supported by global digital licensing agency Merlin, which has provided funding.
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Indie powerhouse Beggars Group, whose labels include 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade and XL Recordings, and London-headquartered Ninja Tune are among the imprints with U.S. offices taking part in the project. A2IM and IMPALA say they are currently talking to other interested labels to complete the core group with a full list of participants due to be published later this year.
In a joint press release, the two indie trade groups called the launch “the first step towards rolling out the tool in the world’s biggest music market” and its expansion into other non-European countries.
“We are very excited that the U.S. is the first territory in the internationalization of IMPALA’s Carbon Calculator,” said Richard Burgess, A2IM president and CEO, in a statement. “Thanks to Merlin‘s support, our members will be able to shape the tool for the U.S. market and play a key role in the expansion of its use.”
In a statement, Karla Rogozar, IMPALA’s sustainability lead said it was important to give U.S. indie labels access to the carbon calculator “to help standardise the [indie] sector’s approach across regions.”
IMPALA’s carbon calculator is part of the Brussels-based organization’s sustainability program, which aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions before 2030 and achieve net zero emissions before 2050.
Since its launch in April 2022, nearly 150 labels have signed up to the carbon calculator initiative from 24 countries. The first report based upon data they submitted was published by IMPALA last year and found that labels using the tool produce the average equivalent of 3.21 kgCO2e for each physical CD or vinyl record they release (based upon the total carbon emissions produced across a label’s whole business, not per physical release).
The biggest source of carbon emissions for the indie sector is manufacturing, which accounts for 76% of emissions on average. Over three quarters of this figure is attributed to vinyl production, which has a higher manufacturing carbon footprint than CDs.
The second highest source of emissions is the distribution of physical products, accounting for 15% of the carbon footprint for labels on average. That’s followed by day-to-day operations, including procurement, business travel and office energy, water and waste (around 9%).
A second edition of the carbon calculator report will be published later this year, said IMPALA, which represents more than 6,000 independent music companies spread across 31 countries.
The U.S. rollout of IMPALA’s carbon calculator is part of a growing industry-wide push to improve environmental and sustainability practices across the music business.
Last year, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group joined forces to establish the Music Industry Climate Collective (MICC) – a new alliance to address and lessen the sector’s environmental impact, which is being assisted and advised by A2IM.
In 2021, all three major record companies, plus independent labels BMG, Beggars, Partisan, Warp, Ninja Tune and the Secretly Group, signed up to the Music Climate Pact, a wide-ranging commitment to “decarbonize” the global record business.
“Our path towards a more sustainable future involves all of us working together,” said Jeremy Sirota, Merlin’s CEO, in a statement on Thursday (June 20). He said the roll-out of IMPALA’s carbon calculator in the U.S. would “help more independents build that future together.”
Chiara Badiali, Julie’s Bicycle’s music lead, called the pilot project “an invaluable opportunity” to share understanding between European and U.S. independent music companies. “Because meeting the climate crisis head-on means coming together, learning from and with each other, and taking action collectively,” said Badiali.
Scan the ground after any given concert or music festival and one thing you’re almost certain to see is a scattering of empty plastic cups. According to a 2024 report by environmental advocacy agency Upstream, the live-event industry creates over 4 billion single-use cups that end up in landfills every year in North America alone.
It doesn’t have to be this way — and reuse company r.World wants to lead the change. The Minneapolis-based company provides reusable serveware — cups, food containers and more — for mass gatherings, with these products designed to mitigate the persistent single-use plastic waste problem in the live music industry and beyond.
“Other than reducing [carbon emissions from] fan travel, reuse is the number one thing venues can do to reduce environmental impact,” r.World founder Michael Martin says. “And artists and fans are asking for it.”
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Founded in 2017, r.World provides reusable plastic cups and other serveware to more than 200 venues across the U.S., along with festivals like Long Beach’s 20,000 capacity Cali Vibes and San Francisco’s 30,000-capacity Portola. In late May, the company partnered with Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, home of the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers, and Peacock Theater to launch a full-time reusable cup program in each venue.
But the mission extends far beyond concerts and sports, with r.World aiming to build the infrastructure for a national reuse economy that would extend to airlines, consumer packaged goods, restaurants and more, ultimately becoming “a one-stop national solution,” Martin says. “The music industry has essentially launched and is leading the reuse movement in the country, and it’s inspiring universities, corporate campuses, quick-service restaurants and others.”
At the center of this movement is the plastic cup itself. Good for 300 uses, r.Cups are made of thick plastic designed and manufactured to r.World specifications that Martin says “overhauled” the manufacturing process of a standard single use cup. Made in the United States to minimize carbon emissions from shipping, each cup is slapped with the words “please return our cup to an r.cup bin,” and when a cup reaches its maximum number of uses, it’s upcycled into other r.World products.
The sweeping project started 10 years ago, when Martin’s other company, the climate solutions-focused Effects Partners, was hired to analyze operations at Live Nation and create a sustainability strategy. While assembling a five-year plan for the live-events behemoth, Martin realized “the recycling and composting efforts at the venues were never going to work,” given that most everything ultimately just ended up in landfills. The realization made him “depressed for, like, six months,” until he considered the reuse programs he’d seen in European venues — and then developed r.World.
r.World reusable products
Courtesy of r.World
Through connections to U2, Martin suggested the band try reuse on their 2017 tour. It was a success, and r.World was soon working with 13 acts, including the Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews Band, Bon Jovi, Radiohead and Maggie Rogers, all of whom gave Martin permission to go to venues on their behalf and request that the venue try reuse during their show.
The first r.Cup cups were branded with band logos, until the team realized fans were just keeping them as souvenirs. In 2019, the model morphed into “an ugly cup” people were less inclined to take home.
Cups are collected in yellow bins that sit alongside garbage cans and recycling containers at venues, then brought to an r.World-owned wash hub facility. These hubs are built in economically depressed areas of any given city to help spur the economy, and are where cups are washed and inspected, largely staffed by people living in halfway houses or who are getting back on their feet after getting out of prison.
These local facilities are crucial because, as Martin says, “you can’t prioritize the environment if you’re shipping cups great distances across the country” due to the carbon emissions created by such transport. r.World plans to establish wash hubs and reuse solutions in the top 20-30 U.S. markets, having already launched in seven. The company expects to add another one or two cities in the coming months and is in conversation with officials from nearly every city they are targeting. “We know the demand and need is there,” says Martin. While the majority of r.World’s current business is cups, Martin cites “exploding” demand for food containers at venues, festivals, schools and corporate campuses.
r.Cup typically launches in a venue after a facility or concession manager reaches out to ask about reuse. (Martin notes that they have a 99% client retention rate, and the one venue that did let go of the program was having financial issues.) With an operational design developed via focus groups with national concessionaires like Levy Restaurants, Aramark and Sodexo US, r.World provides everything from cups and collection bins to signage, employee training materials and social media content to educate guests, offering “a complete turnkey solution so it’s a no brainer for the operators,” says Martin. Venues are also provided with environmental impact reporting that uses EPA guidelines to consider everything from the sourcing and shipping of cups to the temperature of the water used to clean them. (Martin says the company is “sort of obsessive” about these protocols, which he attributes to “being a numbers geek.)
Cost of implementation is based on the number of single use items required by a venue and varies by how much of their service is packaged drinks versus draft or fountain drinks. Martin says the biggest arenas that serve draft and fountain beverages go through 1.5 million-2.5 million single use cups per year. While upfront costs of r.World products are higher than single use, the cost over time is generally less given that venues must keep buying the reusable plastic cups that get thrown away after each event.
r.World reusable products
Jesse Roberson
Some venues embed this added expense into the drink price, while others allow guests to opt out and get a single use cup for a slightly lower cost. (Over r.World’s millions of transactions, Martin has heard about “two or three” people opting out.) Drink servers are also into r.Cup, he says, “because they felt bad giving out all that single use waste, and cups are a conversation starter with guests.” Beyond the price differentials, Martin says the biggest hesitation venues and events have about adopting reusable cups is an “imagination gap,” along with other factors like existing vendor contracts, venue infrastructure and apathy and misinformation, such as thinking single-use aluminum or compostable cups are good for the environment.
To wit, reusable cups are alternatives to frequently-used compostable cups, which have a dicey record of being composted and behave as a regular single use plastic cup if they end up in a landfill. Aluminum cups and bottles also often end up in landfills given that recycling sorting at events can be spotty. A 2023 Upstream report states that “single-use aluminum cups are the worst option for the climate by far,” as they use 47% more energy over their life cycle and create 86% more carbon dioxide than other single-use plastic options.
r.World reusable products
Courtesy of r.World
As sustainability initiatives become more common and more in-demand across the industry and culture at large, more than 150 national reuse companies have launched since the pandemic. In 2022, Live Nation invested in Turn Systems, a program that provides reusable cups, collection bins and mobile washing systems at venues and festivals. As such, r.World is partnered with Live Nation competitors including AEG, ASM and NIVA, and provides product washing for other reuse companies.
Beyond venues and events, r.World clients include the Coca-Cola Company, which is widely cited as one of the world’s leading single-use plastic waste producers. Coca-Cola has made a commitment to incorporating 25% reusable products by 2030 and is working with r.World to provide reuse services for Coca-Cola clients like music venues, movie theaters, the Olympics, the World Cup and wherever else Coca-Cola wants to implement reuse. r.World has also been selected by the EPA and the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality to help raise national awareness of reuse.
Martin says that while an industry has developed to help solve the single use plastic problem, many waste management and consumer packaged goods companies would rather not see a large-scale shift to reuse happen. And despite the explosive growth in the sector, Martin says r.World’s biggest competitors are still single-use cups and serveware, whether plastic, compostable or aluminum.
This is where artists and fans can flex their power by requesting reuse programs in their riders and spending money at venues with reuse programs given, Martin says, that “businesses will give back what consumers are asking for.”
Vinyl sales were up 14.2% across all U.S. independent retailers in 2023, according to Luminate, marking the continued growth of a format whose renewed popularity has coincided with a growing industry focus on sustainability — one that has consistently identified vinyl’s carbon footprint as problematic.
Now, the Vinyl Record Manufacturer’s Association (VRMA) and the Vinyl Alliance (VA) have released a study that looks at the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process and offers recommendations on how to mitigate it.
“We hope this report — and a series of subsequent updates — encourages everyone in the vinyl record industry to be radically transparent about the environmental impact of making vinyl records, and what steps we can take to reduce that impact,” the report reads, adding that the data backing it up is “based on a very limited number of businesses in the supply chain.” However, it continues, “we have a range of other companies who are in the process of contributing their carbon footprints, and we hope this report will encourage many more businesses in the supply chain to participate as well.”
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The study considers the vinyl industry’s scope one, two and three emissions, which are involved in the entire lifespan of a vinyl record. Respectively, they encompass a company’s direct emissions; indirect emissions from electricity purchased; and all other indirect emissions in a company’s value chain. The study was made in accordance with Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, which standardizes, on an international level, how businesses measure, report and manage their greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the report, the “cradle-to-factory gate” footprint of a single vinyl album is approximately 1.15 kg CO2e, or the equivalent of driving a car for three miles. Fifty percent of those emissions come from the plastic PVC compound used to press the records, another 30% are from energyconsumption at the factory and 13% of emissions are from print packaging like jackets, inserts and sleeves. The remaining percentage includes the manufacturing of lacquers, cutting tools and stampers, and other packaging.
But while vinyl emissions are an oft-cited problem, the report goes a step further by offering five recommendations vinyl manufacturers can take to reduce carbon emissions from their production processes.
The first is to eliminate air freight. “If a label or artist presses at a single location, then ships records to global markets by air freight,” the study states, “these shipping emissions will dwarf anything else you might do to reduce the carbon footprint of your release.”
The next recommendation is to switch to “bio-attributed” PVC compound. A relatively recent invention, “bio-attributed” PVC is made from a waste product created during paper production and uses plant-based raw materials to replace the petroleum that PVC is typically made with. Such usage could cut an album’s carbon footprint by roughly 44%, according to the report.
The report also recommends that manufacturers press on lighter 140-gram, versus 180-gram, vinyl. Heavier weights can increase a record’s footprint by between 14% and 26%, as can the use of splatter vinyl, which entails sprinkling various colors onto a background color before the record is pressed. The report also advises manufacturers to keep their packaging simple, noting that a jacket gatefold on a single record adds 10% to 15% to the typical footprint of a record compared to a standard 3mm spine jacket.
Finally, the report advises all companies in the supply chain to transition to zero-carbon energy. “Pressing plants often have gas boilers, and replacing these with electric or hydrogen boilers represents a huge challenge,” the report states, “but one that has to be grasped.”
The inaugural report was compiled by a working group led by Peter Frings of Stamper Discs alongside Adam Teskey and Alex Deninson of Vinyl Factory Manufacturing Ltd; Ryan Weitzel of A to Z Media; Karen Emanuel and John Service of Key Production; Ian Stanton of Beggars Group; Kamal Nasseredine of Precision Pressing; Vladimir Visek of GZ Media; Ryan Mitrovitch of Vinyl Alliance; Bryan Ekus of VRMA; and Ruben Planting of Deep Grooves.
As music consumers increasingly demand sustainable options from businesses across the industry, AEG has struck a partnership that will bring a full-time reusable cup program to Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena and Peacock Theater, the company announced Tuesday (June 4). In collaboration with reusable serveware company r.World, which produces reusable items for large-scale gatherings, the venues […]
The Universal Music Group announced the formation of a new division, called the Global Impact Team, that will oversee the music conglomerate’s efforts to promote positive community engagement, environmental sustainability and other related efforts, the company announced today (June 3). The team will be led by Susan Mazo, formerly executive vp of social responsibility, events and special projects, who has been promoted to executive vp/chief impact officer.
Joining the new department will be former music journalist and GreenBiz Group executive Dylan Siegler, who has been named senior vp/head of sustainability at UMG; senior vp and executive director of UMG’s Task Force for Meaningful Change Dr. Menna Demessie, who will be part of the leadership group; Markie Ruzzo, who has been promoted to vp of global impact; and Sharlotte Ritchie, former senior director of communications and head of the U.K. chapter of the Task Force for Meaningful Change, who has been named senior director of global impact and communications. In addition, the social impact marketing agency Inside Projects, founded by Kristin Jones and Arielle Vavasseur which has worked with Netflix, Spotify and the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions, has made UMG its exclusive partner for the music industry.
“The formation of the Global Impact Team reflects our commitment not only to accelerating our work in these critical areas but to do so in a way that leverages the experience and talent of these exceptional individuals to drive positive impact across our company, our industry and in the communities in which we serve,” UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge said in a statement. “With this new structure we are ensuring that these functions are not siloed, but rather positioned to meaningfully influence all aspects of our global strategy.”
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Mazo has been at the forefront of UMG’s efforts in this area since joining the company a decade ago, having co-created the music group’s Amplify Award to honor artists working towards positive change and serving as the founding chair of UMG’s All Together Now Foundation, which works to bring about meaningful change across the globe. In a statement, she said she was honored to lead the new team on behalf of UMG.
“Through our work we’ve demonstrated that sustainability, community engagement and corporate social impact go hand-in-hand with delivering positive results for our employees, artists and shareholders,” Mazo said. “With this next evolution of our team and structure, and with Sir Lucian’s constant encouragement and focus, I’m excited to create and implement a new approach that unites all of the efforts in a way that will amplify UMG’s global impact and brand resonance given our unique position to enact positive change.”
With music festivals around the world getting more focused on meaningful sustainability initiatives, Central California’s Mill Valley Music Festival is set to raise the bar by getting 100% of its power from renewable energy sources.
Happening this weekend (May 11-12), the Mill Valley, Calif., event says this initiative will make it the first festival in the United States to be entirely powered by renewable energy. The source of that energy will be Moxion MP-75 batteries — battery-powered generators that use no fuel, produce no emissions and are almost fully silent. (Last year, these Moxion batteries were listed among Time‘s Best Inventions of 2023.)
The festival, which is expecting 6,000-12,000 attendees per day, will use seven Moxion batteries to power its stages, VIP areas, vendors and all other power points. Another three batteries will be on-site as backups. A representative for Moxion tells Billboard that these batteries have been donated to the festival to serve as proof of concept that Moxion can share with other live events organizers to help transition festivals from traditionally used diesel-powered generators to clean power sources.
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Amazon and equipment rental company Sunbelt are among the investors in the Bay Area-based Moxion Power, whose batteries have previously been used to partially power festivals including Reverb’s Luck Reunion near Austin, BottleRock in Napa Valley and Southern California events PowerTrip, Camp FlogGnaw, Long Beach Tamale Fest, CaliVibes and Coachella. Upcoming deployments are planned for Los Angeles festivals Cruel World and Just Like Heaven.
While many festivals have experimented with the use of some clean power — including battery and solar — some event organizers have been reticent to fully rely on battery-powered generators due to concerns over dependability and cost. According to a company representative, Moxion does not publish retail prices given that battery cost varies based on incentives available at the time of purchase, but they say battery cost is comparable to the cost of the traditionally used diesel generators when considering rental and fuel prices.
Nic Adler, the vp of festivals at Goldenvoice — which produces events including PowerTrip, CaliVibes, Camp FlogGnaw, Cruel World, Just Like Heaven and more — told Billboard in March that the minute the costs of green initiatives “start affecting the bottom line [of festivals] in a positive way, there’s going to be a full push for all of this.”
Organized by the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce and Noise Pop Industries, Mill Valley Music Festival is in its third year and this weekend will feature artists including Fleet Foxes, Margo Price and St. Paul & the Broken Bones.
The festival projects that by using Moxion batteries, it will avoid generating roughly9,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. (For comparison, 9,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions is roughly the equivalent of an average gas-powered passenger vehicle being driven for 10,000 miles.)
“We’re thrilled to be the exclusive energy source for Mill Valley Music Festival this year,” says Moxion CEO and co-founder Paul Huelskamp. “Moxion was born right here in Mill Valley, so it’s incredible to see the festival become a sustainability leader. We hope this inspires more eco-friendly practices across the board.”
GOAL — a sustainability program developed by founding members Oak View Group, State Farm Arena and its NBA sports tenant the Atlanta Hawks, Fenway Sports Group and green building expert Jason F. McLennan — has released a report outlining the impact of its first year of work.
The group’s 2024 Impact Report reflects data from 40 U.S., Canada and U.K. venues, including large-scale facilities that regularly host music programming like Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, Southern California’s Acrisure Arena and Austin’s Moody Center. GOAL (which stands for Green Operations & Advanced Leadership) sets out to collect data and build a roadmap for a more sustainable live event and venue industry. The report laid out current member performance and identified what future benchmarks could mean for the environment.
The report states that member venues diverted 32% of waste through reusing, composting and recycling over the last year. If that diversion rate reached 90% for all GOAL members, they could avoid emissions “equal to driving to the moon and back 75 times in a standard gas-powered car,” according to the report.
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The average member venue used 14.48 million gallons of water over the year. If each member reduced their water usage by 5%, it would be enough water for every citizen in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. to have one glass of water.
“The sports and entertainment industry has historically prioritized marketing over positive environmental impact, with venues making declarative statements about sustainability without necessarily following up with concerted action,” said McLennan in the report. “As we move forward, venues must hold themselves and each other accountable, and a consistent rubric for evaluation is essential to build confidence and drive continuous improvement.”
The report also outlines individual efforts at various member venues, with Tampa’s Amalie Arena installing an on-site central energy plant in 2022 to generate electric energy on site, a project that brought the arena’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions (direct greenhouse emissions that occur from sources controlled or owned by an organization and indirect greenhouse emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, steam, heat or cooling down, respectively) to 51% less than the average NHL arena. New Jersey’s Prudential Center purchased two electric Zambonis, while Atlanta’s State Farm Arena is in the process of quantifying all of its natural gas emissions so they can be offset. The average NBA Arena currently produces 1,611 metric tons of Scope 1 carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, three GOAL Members — State Farm Arena, Climate Pledge Arena and UBS Arena in New York — have achieved the U.S. Green Building Council’s TRUE Zero Waste Certification, which means they send at least 90% of their total waste to recycling, compost, donation or for reuse.
“I love GOAL. It’s the most important thing we’ve done toward sustainability,” OVG chairman/CEO Tim Leiweke told Billboard in March. “It’s hugely important that we get other people in the industry committed to GOAL. That’s one of [OVG’s] highest priorities.”
Find the complete report here.
On Monday morning (April 8), the moment fans had been waiting for had finally arrived: Billie Eilish announced her forthcoming third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, out May 17.
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After changing her Instagram icon to blue last week and plastering teaser posters of lyrics across major cities, Eilish delivered a clever promotional stunt: adding her millions of followers to her Close Friends stories on the app. According to CrowdTangle, her social media savvy led to a major win, as the superstar gained more than seven million new followers in just a two-day span.
Of course, for the sake of promoting a new album, the timing couldn’t be better. But as Eilish and her team explain, there’s a much larger goal in mind with this particular rollout. “The fact that I have a far bigger audience and platform than I’ve ever had in my life means I can reach that many more people, and that’s such a huge responsibility and privilege to have,” Eilish tells Billboard. “If I don’t use that privilege to do some good in the world, then what’s the point?”
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“My parents have always kept me well informed and hyper aware that every choice we make and every action we take has an impact somewhere or on someone, good or bad, and that has always stuck with me,” she continues. “I can’t just ignore what I know and go about my business and career and not do something. That’s just not how I was raised, or how I want to live my life.”
To coincide with the album announcement, Eilish has updated her website’s homepage to include a sustainability tab, offering a transparent breakdown of the album’s many eco-friendly innovations when it comes to physical product, from vinyl and CDs to merchandise. It’s the culmination of her yearslong efforts to change the music industry from within, as she and her mother, Maggie Baird, have been fighting for more sustainable practices across the business from day one.
“Since we first met them, this [has been] the foundation of our relationship with them,” says Steve Berman, vice chairman of the newly formed Interscope Capitol Labels Group. Berman notes how it’s a team-wide effort across Interscope and Justin Lubliner’s Darkroom along with co-managers Danny Rukasin and Brandon Goodman of Best Friends Music. “We’re in this every day together,” continues Berman. “We are always looking at this through the lens of not only what we can do, but as the platform gets bigger, what are more opportunities to be focused on this and have impact and empower change?”
With Hit Me Hard and Soft, that comes down to doubling down on encouraging new physical production standards that implore the most eco-friendly practices currently feasible, with the goal of changing systemic and industry-wide practices that have been influenced by charting, retailer and consumer demands.
Hit Me Hard and Soft will have a limit of eight vinyl variants, all of which will become available on the same day and feature the exact same track-listing – and, most importantly, all of which are produced by using recycled materials. The standard black variant is made from 100% recycled black vinyl while the remaining seven colored vinyl will be made from ECO-MIX or BioVinyl. ECO-MIX is created from 100% recycled compound made of leftovers from any colors that can’t otherwise be used, resulting in a unique pressing of every LP, while BioVinyl helps reduce carbon emissions by 90% by using non-fossil fuel materials like used cooking oil or industrial waste gases.
“It’s really an important responsibility to honor the work that Billie does and how she and her family see it,” says Berman. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s something we’re really proud of to be able to bring it to her fans in the cleanest way possible…So much thought and energy have gone into making sure that we’re being respectful of the fans and making sure that we have vinyl – it’s an important part of the connection to the music and the art.”
And their efforts don’t end with the vinyl discs alone: the packaging for each variant is made 100% from post-consumer waste and recycled fiber pre-consumer waste; the ink is raw plant-based and water-based dispersion varnish; the sleeves are 100% recycled and reusable; and all goods are then packaged and shipped in recyclable shipping boxes.
And across cassette and CDs, no plastic boxes will be used. Cassette shells will be made from recycled shell pieces while CD packaging will replace jewel cases with softpaks that use 100% renewable fibers.
“We are doing everything we can to minimize waste in every aspect of my music,” says Eilish. “[My label has] listened to my concerns and helped me find the best way forward when releasing music and product into the world.”
“[Universal Music Group] has set global goals around emissions reduction and working with Billie is a great opportunity to co-create product-related solutions with her,” adds Veronica Dullack, SVP of global ESG & sustainability at UMG. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve worked together to support and enable her bold choices,” from recycled vinyl to merchandise, which is made from prior production dead stock, organic or recycled polyester or cotton and non-toxic dyes.
With the rollout and release of Hit Me Hard and Soft, Eilish and her team will continue to partner with Reverb as well – an organization she has worked with on numerous initiatives, from partially powering her mainstage set at Lollapalooza Chicago last year with solar-charged batteries to saving 8.8 million gallons of water by serving plant-based meals for artists and crew on her Happier Than Ever tour and more.
“Billie, her family and her team don’t seem afraid to shake things up and question the status quo, especially when it comes to how the music industry does business…We’re excited that her new album is integrating cutting-edge production methods and materials,” says Reverb founder Adam Gardner. “Artists like Billie have tremendous power to influence and change the entire music industry and how it operates – and that’s exactly what she’s doing.”
Eilish has emerged as a leader when it comes to sustainability in music and she hopes “that others will adopt the same practices, and they will eventually become standard. It really is as simple as that.”
To view a full list of Eilish’s eco-friendly efforts surrounding the release of Hit Me Hard and Soft, visit her website.
Making live music events as environmentally friendly as possible is a task executed by thousands of workers who install solar panels, transport waste, collect reusable cups, measure energy use and execute other operational tasks. But every employee doing this work ultimately falls under the purview of any given live event company’s head of sustainability. Erik Distler is one of them.
As vp of sustainability at AEG, Distler leads the company’s corporate sustainability program. There are executives in similar roles at Live Nation, ASM Global and Oak View Group – and together, this group is responsible for greening a significant percentage of global events and venues. In February, the group – who Distler says all know each other given that the sustainability space is relatively small — appeared together in public for the first time during a panel at the inaugural Music Sustainability Summit in Los Angeles.
“The symbolism of us being together on that stage is powerful and hopefully inspiring to the industry that we’re cheering each other on and perhaps exploring what we can do together,” says Distler. With the stakes being so high, there’s an incentive to share information, he says, particularly given that “this work is really replicable. What you do in one venue or festival can, barring local infrastructure, be done anywhere else.”
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Distler came to his role after working in sports and entertainment sustainability for more than a decade. At AEG, he and his five-person team design and direct sustainability initiatives across the company’s more than 25 festivals, as well as over 50 music venues; nine arenas and similarly sized venues; four entertainment districts; and more than 15 tours to date.
AEG has had a sustainability program for 15 years, but when Distler joined in October 2021, his task was to “take our program to its next phase” amid the worsening climate crisis, the increasing demand for sustainable events among consumers, and new sustainable technologies and regulations.
“The external forces are louder and more influential than they’ve ever been,” he says. “That’s really pushing the industry forward in a way that’s making the case for companies to prioritize and devote internal teams to understand this work, build resources and take action in a meaningful way.”
Distler spent his first three months on the job meeting with 50 internal stakeholders to better understand the business, how to make it more sustainable and get senior executive buy-in, which he says “was fundamental and really paved the way to get more granular with other colleagues.”
From the information collected, he created a strategic framework around sustainability, along with an official vision statement — “Inspire the world’s many voices to protect our planet” — and a mission statement declaring that the company is “committed to operating responsibly and to catalyzing the influence of live entertainment to preserve the planet for future generations.”
“It’s important to have a strategy on a page,” Distler says, “and ultimately a framework that can be used to guide us moving forward.”
This framework also includes a set of focus areas including carbon and energy, waste and materials water, and stewardship and engagement, along with six guiding principles (“collaboration over competition” and “communicate with transparency and often” among them) and seven pillars: operations, suppliers, employees, fans, communities and partnerships.
These partners include Schneider Electric, a French multinational energy management company that AEG has worked with for 14 years for support with target setting, strategy, energy sourcing, market intelligence and risk management. A Greener Future in the U.K. and Three Squares Inc. in the United States are sustainability consultants, while r.World provides reusable cups in all of AEG’s Denver music venues, along with select venues in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, along with six Goldenvoice festivals. For Coachella and Stagecoach, AEG has donated 44.2 tons of food to its partner Coachella Valley Rescue Mission and 34.6 tons of material to the Galilee Center, which provides clothing and other basics to families in the Coachella Valley.
Distler has also sought additional help. Last year, he worked to get four people hired into three newly created sustainability roles. “It’s not uncommon that a sustainability team is small in count and under resourced,” he says. “ What I see as a large part of my responsibility is ensuring our department is sound economically and building and making the case for staff and resources.”
In addition to Distler and his new hires, the team also includes a data and analytics lead responsible for measuring the impact of AEG events and “all the other people that have jobs like those in festival operations that eat, sleep and breathe this.” Additionally, AEG’s employee-led People For The Planet group is composed of employees from other parts of the company who want to contribute to sustainability projects.
Altogether, this group is “probably pretty emblematic of a sustainability department,” Distler says. “You may have a small core team, but you’ve got external and internal partners that help get the work done.”
Given that Europe has tighter sustainability regulations that the U.S., the industry there offers good examples of initiatives that might eventually be adopted in the States. Last November, AEG’s O2 Arena in London launched a green rider: a best practice guide for sustainable touring and events that outlines what the venue is doing in key areas.
“It’s a great way to sit with an artist and their management team and figure out what we can do while they’re [at the O2] that’s truly sustainable and ultimately communicated to fans,” Distler says of the guide, which was produced in collaboration with U.K. based sustainability consultancy A Greener Future.
Distler says his team is “constantly” collaborating with artists including Billie Eilish, who in June 2022 hosted an event at The O2 called Overheated that featured vegan food and water refill stations along with climate-minded programming. Last April, after learning that rock band Muse “was passionate about climate issues,” he says, AEG’s Crypto.com Arena made a donation on behalf of the and to the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, which works to further clean tech, climate action and the green economy in the city.
Distler on site at Cali Vibes
Courtesy of AEG
AEG made a donation to the L.A. Clean Tech Incubator, which works to further clean technology in the city, from AEG’s Crypto.com Arena on behalf of the band. Last year, the team also worked with Maggie Rogers to measure the carbon footprint associated with one of her U.S. tour stops and provided that info to Rogers’ team, along with mitigation suggestions.
In the U.S., AEG has launched a comprehensive sustainability program for its Goldenvoice festivals — including Coachella, Stagecoach, Cruel World and Just Like Heaven. In particular, Goldenvoice’s Cali Vibes functions as a testing ground for sustainability initiatives, including solar panels that light parking lots and the transformation of unpurchased merch into staff uniforms, with these projects be studied for possible use at other events.
“I always say that sustainability doesn’t happen within our team,” says Distler. “Things like waste avoidance or diversion at a festival happen in collaboration with our operation teams, partners and haulers. That requires work that doesn’t ultimately get done in the corporate office.”
While the music industry is ultimately responsible for a tiny fraction of global emissions and waste, Distler is resolute about its impact. He recalls being on a panel in New York last fall alongside sustainability heads from major corporations with, he says, “huge footprints, like millions of metric tons of emissions.”
And yet when it came to the audience Q&A, “everybody had questions for me, and no one had questions for them.” Given its “influence [on] the heart and mind,” the music industry has a responsibility to focus on sustainability, share these initiatives with fans and “create the setting for positive, inspiring and uplifting work.”
It helps that Distler “absolutely” sees real progress being made, with fans, partners, artists and athletes “putting the right level of pressure on the businesses to take on meaningful action.” He says many of the major corporations AEG works with are also taking on sustainability in a more focused way.
“It’s sitting down with partners and saying, ‘What are your focus areas? Your goals? Your aspirations?’” he says. “Then sharing ours and seeing what lines up…seeing the eagerness and willingness of our partners to ideate and brainstorm is really encouraging, and is signaling that the industry is moving in the right direction.”
These days, Coldplay approaches touring “as a traveling R&D lab,” says longtime manager Phil Harvey — and the band’s ongoing Music of the Spheres tour does feel a bit like a stadium run as science experiment. There are compostable wristbands, biodegradable confetti and stationary bicycles that fans on the floor can ride mid-set to generate power to the production’s smaller C stage.
Five years ago, frontman Chris Martin declared that Coldplay would not tour until he could ensure the act’s stadium dates would “have a positive impact” on the environment. Now, thanks to the numerous green innovations put in place since Music of the Spheres began in 2022 — including not only the aforementioned measures but also renewable-resource batteries and routing that reduced air travel — the band achieved a 47% reduction in carbon emissions for the first year of touring, with a 50% reduction goal by the time it wraps in November.
Like an increasing number of artists, Coldplay relied on a team of scientific experts to devise a plan for a greener tour that would be both mammoth (7.7 million global tickets sold to date, according to Billboard Boxscore) and meaningful. “For the number of artists that we’ve been speaking to, the interest and appetite for understanding is pretty good and has exploded over the past three years,” says professor John E. Fernández, director of the Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) at MIT, who helped certify Coldplay’s carbon emission results and has also worked extensively with major dance act Above & Beyond.
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The band also connected with Luke Howell — a former solar engineer who founded British sustainability consulting firm Hope Solutions and previously worked with the Glastonbury Festival. Howell and his Hope team studied the band’s previous tours “to identify key areas where we could reduce emissions,” he says, then created a range of targets, while recommending emerging green tech for the trek. “We don’t always get it right,” Harvey says of Coldplay’s ongoing efforts, “but we pass on everything we learn so that other people can do it better next time.”
Ahead of the inaugural Music Sustainability Summit, held in Los Angeles in February, the ESI announced a comprehensive study on touring’s carbon footprint, expected to be completed this summer. Recommendations will be made — although Fernández says there’s still a long way to go. “I would characterize the music industry as risk-averse,” he says. “It’s a business, and artists are trying to make a living, so we’ve seen an enormous amount of concern over the risk entailed with making a commitment to reduce emissions.”
Prof. John E. Fernández
MIT
It’s one thing for a stadium act like Coldplay to make sustainability a prerequisite for playing live, but the majority of artists don’t have that financial luxury — or even a standardized emissions benchmark to shoot for. Michael P. Totten, who has served as a climate science adviser for Pearl Jam for over two decades, says, “The biggest problem we face is that [no artist] has control over everything” — in short, even one big act can’t cut through all the live-industry bureaucracy. “You’d love to work with green arenas,” he says, “but they’re owned by somebody else, they do a ton of events, and might say, ‘You should talk to the ticket sellers.’ ”
Thus, so far, the artists who effectively make their touring practices greener tend to be those who have the means and drive to do so — and whose tours also often leave the biggest footprints. Totten points out that Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard helped drive the band’s pledge of donating $200 per ton of carbon on its tours — but did so based on scientific recommendations, not any law or industrywide objective.
Marcus Eriksen, a marine scientist who has worked with Jack Johnson to spread awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans, believes that change needs to start with more major artists demonstrating their awareness of various environmental issues. “You want to find influencers — people that can reach a much wider audience,” says Eriksen, who has led several ocean expeditions intended to help educate celebrities like Johnson about how much plastic exists in large bodies of water. Such in-person experiences can, he says, help attendees recognize an urgent issue and encourage them to spread the message back on land. “Getting folks out into the field for a direct experience — that can be transformative,” Eriksen says.
While standard green guidelines may not exist yet for the live industry, Howell says he would love to see more solar and renewable energy incorporated into touring, as well as “electric vehicles and fossil oil-free fuels for all trucking and freight.” Fernández also says the music industry must remain in close contact with the scientific community about the latest climate change projections to make any real progress. “Everyone in the music industry must accept the fact that we’re not going to stay [at] 1.5 degree C average surface warming,” he says, referencing the temperature threshold that was the original goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement. “So if you’re developing a climate plan to maintain that, you’re just going to have to rewrite that plan.”
With that in mind, Fernández stresses that artists must remain open to evolving information on climate change, even at the risk of reworking preexisting sustainability pledges. “This is not unique to the music industry — what we’re seeing is that some companies have made climate commitments, they don’t feel good about the inability to fulfill them, and then they go silent,” he says. “Artists can’t go in that direction. They have to be part of inspiring people to take action.”
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.