Sound Emissions

Reducing your music related emissions can include a whole bunch of things from travelling to shows, what you consume at events, music related purchases and influencing your friends to do the right thing.

Remember fans are in an incredibly powerful position to influence change within and across the music industry. If you guys start putting out a particular preference on mass, for example stadium tickets should include bus and/or train travel in the price of the ticket, you can bet your bottom dollar promoters and regulators (such as local councils) will start listening very quickly.
 

Fans have the power to change things just as artists have the power to influence huge cross sections of the Australian community. For fans the reduction of carbon emissions falls into the following 3 broad categories:
1. Travelling to and from the show;
2. Buying music; and
3. Consuming music related stuff ;

Travelling To And From The Show
Attending live shows is probably the single most supportive action fans take in relation to their favourite artists. Apart from the awesome buzz of seeing your preferred muso performing live, many artists rely heavily on touring to pay the bills.
 

As a fan the choices you make regarding how to get to and from a show impact directly on the amount of travel generated carbon emissions you put in the atmosphere.
 

Like the energy hierarchy there is an equivalent transport emissions hierarchy. Next time you are thinking about checking out some live music consider the following points:
1. Walking - where possible use your feet to get to and from a show. This ancient form of transport is carbon neutral and might even help to improve your fitness;
2. Ride a bike - Like walking this mode of transport is carbon emissions free, is environmentally friendly and good for you. If you are planning to drink at the gig you may need to consider how to safely get home (i.e. by taking a cab, etc).
3. Public transport - Ok granted it is not every gig that you can walk or ride a bike to. For those shows a bit further away take advantage of public transport such as buses, trains and trams. These forms of mass transit have a much lower emissions per person ratio than private transport. In fact, the more people that use public transport, the stronger the message is to governments and investors to build and expand public transport networks. Use it or lose it...
 

If you have to use a car to get where you are going then think about these tips:
• Take a taxi and make sure you take all your mates. A full taxi which normally runs on LPG creates less emissions than petrol or diesel fuelled vehicles. By having a full vehicle it also means less overall numbers of cars on the road at any one time;
• If you have to take a private vehicle, where possible use a fuel efficient one (i.e. small engine or hybrid vehicle). Again make sure the car is fully occupied; and
• Also check out car pooling websites particularly in relation to getting to and from festivals. Many festivals are now listing car pooling links to get to and from their events. A full car is better than a half empty one and hey, you might just meet some pretty cool fellow fans?
 

Buying Music
Reduce buying music, are you crazy?
As with the avoiding buying music page of this website we are encouraging the opposite. Buy music and lots of it (preferably from home grown artists of course).
 

However the carbon footprint of different formats of music (Vinyl, CD, DVD, etc) differs markedly usually due to the product manufacturing, packaging and of course its transportation to the retailer.
 

Next time when you go to buy music consider some of the following points:
• Reduce the number of CDs or DVDs you buy with plastic jewel cases. Where possible go for cardboard sleaves as opposed to plastic jewel cases (which can reduce carbon emissions by up to 95%);
• Reduce buying music that is excessively packaged. Every layer and material used just adds more emissions to our atmosphere;
• If it suits your preferences reduce buying a physical product and digitally download it (from a site licensed to sell digital music - remember your ripping off the artist and the industry by illegally downloading or file sharing music);
• Purchase music from stores that don't wrap their products in plastic (oh and refuse the plastic bag at the counter); and
• If you are going to buy music in a physical format try avoiding travelling to the store by private vehicle (use public transport).
 

Consuming Music Related Stuff
We have mentioned that when it comes to music related products there is good stuff and there is bad stuff. From a carbon emissions perspective bad music related stuff is things like merchandise made out of fossil fuels such as plastic, foam and rubber. Also a lot of merchandise these days is made in countries thousands of kilometres away meaning tonnes of travel emissions.
 

The trick here is to reduce the amount of bad music stuff you buy. Doing so will let manufacturers know that you are only interested in more sustainable and carbon neutral music related products.
This is a good thing and something which fans have total control of. It is your hard earned cash, so why not send some powerful messages to the business community through wise environmentally friendly consumer purchasing?
 

If you have got to purchase your favourite artist's music related stuff consider some of the following pointers:
• Reduce buying stuff made out of plastic and other non renewable resources;
• Check out on the label where the product has been made. Try and reduce buying stuff that has travelled around the globe. The travel emissions embodied in such products can be huge. Buy merchandise produced locally to avoid excessive transport related emissions;
• Reduce buying products that are poorly made and unlikely to last very long. The throw away consumer society has to stop. Reducing the amount of crap you buy can help end this environmentally costly practice;
• Support artists who consider emissions generated by their merchandise (i.e. some artists actually pay to offset part of all of their product's emissions or they source their stuff from ethically approved suppliers, etc); and
• Reduce buying more stuff than you need. Ask yourself, what do I really need, and just buy that.

www.soundemissions.com.au