Music. How Is It Impacting Our Environment?

By: Joonwoo Jeong

IFPI claims in 2023 that people listen to music for an average of 20.7 hours a week. This is a 0.6-hour increase since 2022. Music has lots of power over us. Economically, culturally, and also environmentally. With its production of physical media, its intensive energy-consuming music streaming services, and the waste of worldwide tours. This essay will explore the music industry's environmental challenges and the efforts to reduce its ecological footprint.

Physical Media

Music enthusiasts cherish vinyl records and CDs for a sense of nostalgia. However, the production and distribution process of these physical media could be more eco-friendly.

At the end of 2022, a report was published about music’s physical media sales. They stated that there were 41 million vinyl record units sold along with 33 million CDs. This amounts to 1.7 billion dollars. The vinyl record took 1.2 billion dollars from this statistic. Vinyl records are primarily made out of PVC plastic, and PVC plastics contain materials that make PVC plastic hard to recycle. Then, microplastics are formed when this plastic ends up in landfills or incinerators. This can lead to microplastics releasing, phthalates and other toxic additives, that may harm fish and wildlife. Additionally, the production of PVC in America emitted approximately 18 million metric tons of Carbon Dioxide. Sadly, CDs also possess the same problems as vinyls. CDs are mainly composed of Polycarbonate which is a type of plastic. This plastic contains a substance called BPA. This makes it difficult for people to recycle CDs since this BPA can affect the recycled product. In a sense, we can call both CDs and vinyl Records single-use plastics.

There’s more to the impact of physical media’s impact on the environment. The vinyls and CDs come in various packaging. Such as the album covers, the actual packaging for shipment, and plastic wrapping. If we consider this in the sales of CDs and vinyls. We can double the amount of materials used.

Despite, the impact of physical media, global artists such as Sabrina Carpenter, and The Weeknd started to recognize the importance of leaving no carbon footprint and started to ship by a Caborn-neutral route. On their website, they say, “Route will offset the carbon emissions from your order while protecting against loss, theft, or damage in transit.”

Digital Streaming & Download

The most used way that people access music these days is through digital streaming. Digital streaming reduces the need to consume physical media. However, this part of the music industry faces its own environmental problems. Mainly in energy consumption.

When songs are streamed, the streaming device accesses a file in a severs that is in data centers all over the world. Alongside the energy that data centres use to provide our devices with the music, there’s also energy consumed in the transporting process such as in the wifi, or internet. Streaming music for more than five hours is more harmful than CDs and vinyl records. As an example, we can take Olivia Rodrigo’s viral song “Driver’s License”. The energy consumed on Spotify alone is greater than the energy required to fly from London to New York 4000 times.

Touring & Live Performances

While touring and Live performances can be called the centre of the music industry, energy use, travel, and waste generation have major environmental impacts.

Taylor Swift’s controversial private jet produced an estimated 8,300 tons of Carbon Dioxide in 2022 for her tour. Beyoncé’s recent tour required 160 vehicles to transport her stages between cities. Also, only 20% of the 600 tons of solid waste that Coachella leaves is recycled.

Conclusion

In summary, the music industry has an immense impact on the environment. Physical media production in the music industry contributes to the increase of the non-biodegradable substances released into the atmosphere. Tons of kilowatt hours are consumed by streaming music online. With tons of waste generated by live music performances. Despite these negative effects that the music industry has, people in the field started to recognise the importance of having an environmental footprint, by making carbon neutral ways of shipment and eliminating single-use plastic bottles in the backstage of their concerts. The potential lied in the music industry for reducing its ecological footprint is unlimited. The music industry with the right effort will still strive culturally vibrant, and eco-friendly.