Researchers have identified recommendations for making tours more sustainable. Organizing a concert by moving thousands of people and consuming electricity generates pollution.
Private jets, preparing the stage with connections for all the instruments, thousands of people moving to get to the concert location, all this generates carbon emissions that impact climate change. Researchers at the University of Manchester analyzed tour data provided by the band Massive Attack to understand how live music negatively impacts the environment and identify recommendations for making tours more sustainable. According to the scientists, the music industry should also learn to reduce its carbon emissions to stop global warming.
The study on the impact of live music on the environment
Since 2019, scientists from the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research have studied every detail of Massive Attack’s latest tour and thus have drafted recommendations for “ultra-low carbon practices” that musicians, promoters, tour managers and agents should follow to keep the increase in global warming limited to 1.5°C. The suggestions cover how artists move, where they play, and how fans arrive at events. Suggestions include, for example, planning tour routes in a way that minimizes travel and transportation; including travel by public transportation in the ticket price; and generating renewable energy on-site, perhaps with solar panels.
For the researchers, in fact, concert halls should use renewable energy and energy-efficient lighting and sound equipment, while artists should prefer electric vehicles and trains for travel instead of polluting private jets. Offering fans incentives if they choose to travel by public transportation would also be a good solution. Professor Carly McLachlan of the Tyndall Center, who led the research, said that “to truly decarbonize live music, you need to start doing it from the beginning of a tour.”
If the music industry started working on reducing carbon emissions on a large scale, this could also have an influence on the public, who would be made aware of the issue and enticed to live more sustainably. Taking steps to reduce pollution would also lower the cost of putting on the music event, according to McLachlan. “Energy savings could be a direct money saver for the tour,” is what the Tyndall Center professor argued.
Meanwhile, various global entrepreneurs are shifting their goals toward saving the Earth. Jeff Bezos, for example, has announced the Bezos Earth Fund, with the aim of protecting some biodiversity hotspots around the planet and 30 percent of the Earth’s oceans.
Stefania Bernardini