CCB Magazine

The music industry is stepping up a gear: more and more musicians and bands are thinking about how they can tour more sustainably. Their carbon footprint may be small, but their role model function is not. What's happening on the big stage?
 

Text Boris Messing

Radiohead have done it, Coldplay too, Massive Attack as well - all have taken steps to save their Co2 emissions on concert tours. And they are not alone in this. More and more musicians want to become more sustainable. Co2 emissions from the music industry are comparatively low. But the charisma and the exemplary effect are not. Will we only experience sustainable tours in the future? Green Touring hello?

Not at all. But something is happening. At first glance, the individual items of emissions caused by concert tours are comparable to other large-scale events such as trade fairs, congresses or festivals, which we have already written about elsewhere. The travel of guests to and from the event location almost always accounts for the largest share of emissions. The more guests come, the higher the percentage of total emissions. In the case of smaller bands with a smaller audience, however, the travel of the band plus equipment itself may account for the largest share. This is followed by energy supply, technology, catering, waste management, merchandising, etc. In order to know where the biggest problems lie, it is recommended to do a Co2 balancing and subsequent analysis of a tour. This determines what can be done.

Katrin Wipper from The Changency, a consultancy for the music industry, is convinced of the "radiant power of lighthouse projects". In her 15 years of professional experience as a tour manager, booking agent and in pre-production for tours, she has gotten to know the live business from all sides. Bands with a large audience reach, she says, not only have the "most leverage", but also "bring a lot of inspiration to the outside world." Inspiration for smaller bands, inspiration for fans. Together with Sarah Lüngen, she therefore founded The Changency in September 2021. Over the course of a year, they both continued their education in sustainability and complemented that with their years of expertise in organizing music events. Their very first project - Plant a Seeed - was a success.

In cooperation with the band Seeed and the Theater and Event Technology and Management course at the Berliner Hochschule für Technik, they realized the first scientific sustainability project on large-scale concerts in Germany this summer. Five concerts in the Wuhlheide were chosen as the basis for the scientific study. The total of 85,000 spectators were to be sensitized and inspired for the topic of sustainability and were able to give feedback through surveys, which were included in the results. At all five shows a different focus was set. From fair and organic merchandising to meatless catering for crew and band to waste management, different approaches and ideas were tried and documented. The carbon footprint of the concerts was also analyzed.

Recently, the complete study results have now been published. Of the 6000 guests who participated in the surveys, approximately 2700 completed the questionnaires in full. One of the key findings is that the electricity consumption per concert was approximately 4000 KWh. This means that the energy consumption at one of the concerts was 60 - 80 percent less than if the concertgoers had stayed at home. As expected, the largest energy item came from the mobility of the guests, a little over 87 percent of the total emissions. Also not surprising is the fact that the 25 percent of guests who traveled further away accounted for 75 percent of the emissions. The remaining two-thirds of the guests came from the Berlin environs. The logical consequence of this: shorter travel distances - fewer emissions. Mobility is the biggest lever for making a difference. It is also interesting to note that 94 percent of those surveyed would be willing to pay one euro more for a concert ticket in order to make it possible for people with less money to buy a concert ticket. In addition, a large majority were in favor of sustainable merchandising and a vegetarian food offering; slightly more than half of those surveyed would also be satisfied with a purely vegan food offering. All the results of the study can be found here. 

Seeed at the concert in the Wuhlheide: Photos: Nadine Kunath.

They paid special attention to the topic of mobility. In cooperation with the ADFC and #BIKEYGEES, Seeed called for fans to travel together by bike to one of the concerts in the Wuhlheide. The campaign was so successful that it was even imitated by Hertha BSC in their game against TSG Hoffenheim on October 2. Didn't help them win the game though. Communication with fans is the key, says Katrin Wipper. It has to be transparent and not too pedagogical.

Radiohead, who were the first band to get the ball rolling in 2007, refusing to go on as before, had implemented a whole range of environmentally friendly measures for their tour the following year. Communication with fans was a key element of this. They encouraged their fans to come to concerts by public transportation and let those who did into the venue early. Coldplay did much the same thing years later, issuing discounted tickets to fans who showed evidence of using public transportation. This was verified by an app. A ticket surcharge of one euro can also be added quite simply in order to be able to use public transport for the entire concert day and thus create an incentive to forego the car. All that has to be communicated plausibly.

Katrin Wipper with other Seeed fans on the bike demo to Wuhlheide. Photos: Nadine Kunath.

But these are just the nice stories of a new possible sustainable world. Negative incentives are also possible. In another project involving The Changency, where Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen played three concerts for 180,000 fans at Tempelhof Airport in August, no parking was provided (except for disabled parking). The concerts also served as a stage to address the issue of Cradle to Cradle in various ways. A lab on the topic of climate and resource positive concerts was provided by the bands. But it's not just the big bands that are trying to pave the way for more sustainability at concerts. Katrin Wipper is convinced that the awareness of the musicians regarding sustainability "is very pronounced". But the "communication to the outside world" is not yet optimal. This is directed not only at the fans, but also at the media. Many bands do nothing because they are afraid of being accused of greenwashing, she says. They are afraid that the media would attack them for their not yet optimal sustainability strategy. But bands have to start somewhere, says Katrin Wipper. "We need a different culture of mistakes", she concludes. One that doesn't immediately condemn and appreciates what is done.

Big, well-known bands with influence and money power are one thing. But what about smaller bands, what can they do? A good overview of green touring is provided, for example, by the Green Touring Guide, an initiative of the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg and the Green Music Initiative. In it, suggestions and tips are made for all the areas mentioned above - mobility, energy, catering, etc. - and best-practice examples are cited. The guide refers, for example, to the ecological car club VCD, which has compiled a ranking of the most environmentally friendly vans. And the Blaue Engel also recommends environmentally friendly cars. These and many other useful tips are mentioned in the guide. In addition, there is the, albeit still very meager, Green Club Index, which lists eco-friendly venues throughout Germany. The Green Touring Network regularly informs about sustainability in the music industry and tries to build a green community. And a broad network of cultural players, including parts of the music industry, has already emerged in the Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit.

The Changency, says Katrin Wipper, has its hands full in any case. The demand for sustainability strategies among festivals, promoters and musicians is high. The fact that more sustainability in the music industry is currently more expensive on balance cannot be avoided. More targeted subsidies are needed to get the curve, she says, because the consequences of climate change would be even more expensive. We finally have to step on the gas (electrically, of course), otherwise everything goes down the drain. Just move on up, old Curtis would probably advise us - or Don't think twice, it's alright in Bob Dylan's words.

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