The Music Industry Creates Tons of Waste Each Year—Here's How Some Record Labels Are Going Green

Photo Credit: dwhartwig at Flickr.

“The entertainment industry is the second dirtiest industry in the world,” according to Leslie Uppinghouse, production manager for Austin’s South by Southwest festival. (The construction industry is supposed to be the dirtiest.) A more eco-friendly approach is a tall order in the music business, where bands leave humongous carbon footprints on national and international tours. But at a grassroots level, independent record labels are becoming greener.

One prominent example is Sub Pop, the Seattle label that launched the careers of legendary bands Nirvana and Soundgarden. In 2006, it became the first label to be Green-e certified, by purchasing “green tags,” or renewable energy certificates, from the Portland, Oregon-based Bonneville Environmental Foundation.

Labels like Earthology, Smog Veil, and Green Owl take the greening of the music industry even further. These labels are owned and run by people whose passion for the environment equals their passion for music. They’ve created a different business model, showing it’s possible to be hip and sustainable at the same time.

Earthology was founded by Craig Minowa, leader of the Minneapolis indie rock band Cloud Cult, who has a B.A. in environmental science. Minowa’s interest in the environment was sparked in junior high. “I started learning about some of the environmental problems plaguing the planet, and I watched the creek in the woods gradually get worse,” he remembers. “It made me want to fight for the living beings on this planet who don't have a voice.”

The record label is an offshoot of the Earthology Institute, a nonprofit organization founded in the 1990s by Minowa and his wife, Connie. Minowa began to combine his roles as musician and activist with Cloud Cult’s 2001 album, Who Killed Puck? as he sought greener ways to manufacture CDs. “There were no eco-friendly options at the time, as this was over a decade ago, so I had to develop my own model and that ultimately became Earthology Records.”

Earthology’s recording studio was constructed from salvaged wood and plastic, including wood and metal from a chicken coop. The sound insulation is made of recycled clothing ground into fiber. The soundboard and decks were built from, respectively, boards made of recycled newspaper and plastic bottles. Today the label operates from an organic farm and is powered by geothermal energy. It uses organic and recycled materials for merchandise and advertising, and the label’s profits are donated to environmental organizations.

Smog Veil’s Frank Mauceri grew up witnessing the ravages of pollution on Lake Erie. “It always seemed to me to be a tremendous waste of natural resources to have access to this amazing lake and have it nearly wasted away by industrial runoff,” he says.

Smog Veil has released music by artists like legendary art-punk band Pere Ubu and pre-punk cult band Rocket from the Tombs. The label’s Chicago office is powered by wind and solar energy. “What we did is not unique to the music business; any business can do this,” Mauceri explains. “But, it took quite a bit of planning. Ultimately, we had to convince the city of Chicago to amend the zoning code to allow rooftop wind turbines in mixed residential and commercial areas, and we were granted the first permit under the new law.”

The label specifically works with vendors that will provide eco-friendly options. Happily, they’ve found it easy to find these vendors. Not only that, but the eco-friendly products are popular with music fans. Mauceri says, “Everyone it seems likes the paperboard package, the gatefold CD package that is plastic-free, and the 100-percent organic cotton T-shirt.” Green Owl has a mission, clearly stated on its Web site, “to build a sustainable company that reflects the progressive interests of society.” The label released a compilation album, “Green Owl Comp,” with proceeds going to benefit the Energy Action Coalition. Contributing artists on the album include Feist, Muse and Pete Yorn.