Environmental impact of the music industry

The Lounge General Discussion
#47

Absolutely, but I wonder, do people who care for the planet vote for somebody, who tells them that all scientists warning about climate change are telling nonsense?

I fear that votings in a democratic system are correlated with the true mindset of a population. If they vote for a racist they accept racism. If they vote for a liar, they want to believe, what the liar is telling them and they are happy to ignore facts or believe that those “facts” are “lies”.

If the mindset of the majority would be “green” or “save the environment” the votings would be accordingly.

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#48

Oh no on that point I somewhat agree.

On this I disagree, I know plenty of older people who have never used single use plastics, grow their own vegetables, don’t buy a new smartphone every year, ride bicycles, use public transport, prefer to buy locally, keep clothes for years etc etc etc. So whilst perhaps they aren’t tweeting about it, you can be sure many of them are actually doing and have been doing their bit for years. Even when I was a kid you had glass bottles for soft drinks that you happily took back to the shop when empty for recycling, they even gave you money for them.

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#49

Exactly … like in our familiy … doing it and trying to be mindful … and try to improve with every year :wink:

#50

Ofc there are always exceptions to the rule.

But when it comes to electing people who can make a real difference, the numbers tell the story.

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#51

Great thread, thanks to the OP for creating it. Already, many topics have been touched upon, as well as many perspectives and deliberate life choices.
I can recommend a book called ‘Collapse’ by Jared Diamond, which features many examples of past societies that either succeeded to take their environmental problems under control or fail to do so, which enevitably lead to societal collapse in the long run (e.g. Vikings in Greenland, the Anasazi, Easter Island). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been shown to be successful to change socio-ecological trajectories for the better in the past, but examples of societies failing to adapt (because of a variety of reasons, some merely cultural, as in failing to adapt dietary habits) are numerous.
I can understand that people feel that it’s not their responsibility and that governments should control what is allowed or incentivized etc.
I think we need both approaches to steer the earth system back on the right track, especially in combination with a whole lot of education. You can’t protect what you don’t know. Kids that are now growing up with all the climate change, the current mass extinction event, deforestation etc., will hopefully develop a different value system than mass consumerism.

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#52

I have always been attracted by post-apocalyptic movies, good or bad, but it’s really in late May that I really began to measure how my (and our) way of life impacts, well, life, and this in so many ways, in such a scale that it is vertiginous…
Trying to reduce my impacts has proven to be difficult, and talking to my family about this, even harder.

Regarding the impacts of music industry, I thought of 3 ways to reduce my part:

  • being aware of the environmental question reduced my GAS to almost nothing, and helps fight it when it comes back (although, Osmose… ahem);
  • I also try to stop buying vinyl, because of this video from Benn & gear on vinyl. It’s hard, cause I love them. I can’t even play with the idea to sell them. Guess I should.
  • I only attend local festival, knowing crowd transport CO2 emission is largely the main culprit with such venues.
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#53

Politics is a completely different story again even though it´s still part of the same problem.

To come back to the music industry there is also this trend of mega companies that keep buying up the smaller companies until you´re only left with fake competition. Music Tribe or inMusic as just two examples and the whole Investors pushing money into a market they don´t really care about just to squeeze out more money (that as a side fact isn´t even backed up by a real value but is only digital figures in a computer system. Unfortunately the profit margin needs to be earned through labour of other people and so phantasy turns into reality for very few people on the cost of the many). Many companies for basically the same product competing for a limited number of customers but all producing more and more gear every year. But innovation isn´t happening in such big monsters that firstly care about revenue/shareholder profit. I´ve seen more innovative ideas and niche products from DIY enthusiasts in the DJ scene than from any company in the last 10 years. The money being pumped into Native Instruments for example is being used to transform the company into a direction the managers think the users will want. If the rumours are correct they had a standalone Maschine in the pipeline but cancelled it to focus on their new cloud based approach with subscriptions coming in the near future.

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#54

That’s why I check often on Kickstarter or other crowd funding portals to find “new” ideas :wink:

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#55

I don’t believe you! I’m curious to know what is almost nothing for you! :joy:
Dractic changes since Synth Fest?
If you feel that guilty, I can help you. I wouldn’t be against a Cirklon, an MnM, a DN…:pl:

#56

Last thing I bought was a PO-33 in late July, and before that a Peak in February.
No drastic change since SynthFest, from now on it’s one in one out, period :slight_smile:

Doesn’t mean I’ll get rid of what I have :wink:

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#57

The reason why I consider politicians and industry leaders responsible is because of my utter cynisism towards humanity as a whole. If destroying/harming the environment is made very costly/illegal, that is the only way a significant change will occur. Otherwise the people who can make the biggest impact will just shrug off any “ideals” and continue the status quo.

#58

I think your cynicism shouldn’t be directed at humanity as a whole. The majority of humanity just wants to live a peaceful life in safety IMO, but i’m sure that is also debatable to many people. The problem is that the biggest dicks end up in leading positions as, sadly, the focus of our global society is on economic growth. Ruthless people are having a much easier time screwing other people over, consider things such as environmental quality as externalities, and elbow their way to top positions. I don’t really have an answer on how to change that, but my best guess is to try to focus on education and teach children the consequences of their actions as well as rewarding ideas and projects that incorporate cooperation for the good of the whole, instead of stirring competition. I’m sure that sounds very naive to some and I’m sure that people will reply that this is not how the system works. That’s exactly where we need change.
Sorry for rambling and derailing the thread further from the music industry.

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#59

I already mentioned that it´s hard to isolate the music industry when the problems it causes are the result of being forced to play the same game after the same rules as the global players, who only got into their position through exploiting nature and labour. You described it well and I also think that education is the key. We flood people with money who are as superficial as it gets while we look down on people who actually do something valuable to society.

The media is playing us through psychological tricks and are also part of the problem, no matter which industry you look at. While we´re discussing this on a public message board, how many articles from the usual channels we get our info about new gear from can you link that are doing proper research on this topic and have a critical resumee about this? The industry needs them to keep planting the seed in our head that this new device will solve all our (creative) problems and is the thing everybody has been waiting for and the media channels need the industry to keep them alive because that´s how they get paid - they need advertising revenue from these companies to finance their magazine/blog etc. So even if the people in the media would like to act differently and people in companies would like to produce in alternative and sustainable ways we have been pushed into a system of mutual dependence which only goal is to keep this system alive.

Like you I think that most people just want to live a peacful live, raise a family and not having to worry about the future. For the remaining psychopatchs, narcissists etc. maybe we should try the method shown in one of the many Simpson´s Halloween specials with the giant billboard monsters destroying the town: just don´t look, just don´t look! aka stop making stupid people famous :wink:

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#60

How about the environmental impact of the ‘deployment’ of 5G? Anyone care to think about that? No? Just gonna go a head and ‘deploy’ it without ANY long term testing to see if it has ANY effects on the flora or the fauna? Nope? None? Ok; this is proof we are lost as a species.

#61

I’m not convinced that any of the current political parties can make a real difference but of course they all claim they can/will, no the only ones who can make a difference are the general population and most seem reluctant or that it is hopeless, or that they aren’t to blame and that it is someone else’s fault, everyone needs to own it before anything significant can happen.

Identity politics has and always will be one of the greatest challenges that humans need to overcome. Divide and conquer.

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#62

That unfortunately is the north american way of business that is being forced onto the rest of the world. Why pay for research in advance and risk all the money when the product turns out to be harmful when you can instead just release it, let others pay for it and do the research for free at the same time? As long as there are sheep willing to follow others instead of using their own head this unfortunately will continue.

Premature releases are also a thing in the music industry but obviously with a lot less potential of harming your health/environment.

#63

A majority of politicians don’t have our best interests in mind. They’ll only do enough good, policy-wise to get re-elected. Therefore if you’ve put all your faith in them, we may already be doomed. They can barely manage a budget effectively enough to fix potholes in the streets, you expect them to solve the climate change dilemma? There is a green party in the US that focuses more on the environment but 3rd party candidates never have a chance of winning against the reigning duopoly.

I think bringing awareness is a good thing, but the actions behind this will be the deciding factor. Many armchair activist types will talk the talk, but never walk the walk. Perhaps if we all can just try to reduce our own carbon footprint on a micro level, it will help as a whole. Make conscious decisions on your purchases. Bring your own reusable bag to the market. Have a metal canteen for water. Recycle and dispose of E waste properly. And teach your kids this! Even small changes can have big impacts.

Perhaps we’ve helped a little by going digital for music production needs with VSTs and Plugins increasing in quality / use in the past decade, however you still need a computer to run them. Though the person running all ITB seems to have a 1 up on the person with a room full of gear, as far as consumption wise.

Also, If my cynicism is showing, it’s only because I have a distrust for politicians and they’re “Kabuki Theatre” antics.

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#64

That is some level of cynicism that one sees little difference between the Obama administration and the Bush or Trump administration.

One had themselves in the Paris agreement; putting a stop to coal ; caps on car emissions and the other believes climate crisis is a hoax perpetuated by Chinese; sues states for having their own emissions cap programs and attacks 16 year old activists on Twitter.

But tomatoe tomatoe though right?

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#65

Anyone still trusting politicians (to solve this issue) must have been in some kind of koma for most of his/her life. Politicians are just puppets for the stage anyway, if you look closer behind the scenes you will often find the same people in key positions, no matter which puppet is currently being pushed into the arena and no matter which polictical party is currently in charge. If politics even has a chance to change the situation for the better it can only happen on a smaller local scale where politicians are actually still part of everyday life and not living in a parallel universe.

Here´s something I´ve been thinking about that could help reducing the carbon footprint of all the transportation involved with new stuff:

If every country had several “open factories” that would produce the gear we´d like on demand with a guaranteed quality standard and with normal waiting periods (talking days or weeks max), would that be something you would consider? Instead of buying a finished unit you basically buy the licence to have one unit being built in the factory of your choice, maybe even the chance to watch (parts of) the process and get to the same place for any technical issues/repairs. Obviously you´d need several specialized factories since for example a bike needs different machinery and ressources than let´s say a synth. But just as a general idea… the expertise is there in every country so why waste all the talent because it´s cheaper to hire people in China and ship the stuff several times around the globe instead. Like I said, it´s just a basic idea that needs a lot refinement but I think it might be something to push this into a better direction. Until of course some criminal douchebag ruins it again for everybody.

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#66

I’m glad this discussion is happening here.

A few things to consider:

YES, the music industry has less of an impact than air travel or lots of other things, but if you buy gear (I do) you are contributing to the problem in one way or another. And, as a philosopher friend reminds me, when fewer people are doing the right thing, if you do the right thing, it has more of an impact.

The question of WHAT has HOW much of an impact is an empirical question. There is science on it. Get educated so you can make intelligent choices.

Individual action is valuable because it’s a moral thing to do. That said, it won’t solve the problem. Only large-scale, collective, international action will solve the problem. And it won’t be a technological solution that simply allows people in rich countries (like me) to keep going as they have. That requires organization. It doesn’t have to XR, it doesn’t have to be a government, but saying something isn’t going to work isn’t a plan. Help to make a better plan.

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