MUMBAI: If you stopped a person on the street and asked them what industries were the biggest polluters of the environment, the music industry probably wouldn’t make it on their Top 10 list It probably wouldn’t spring to mind at all One international label believes the environment should not only be an agenda item for the music industry – it believes the issue could be the answer the industry needs in addressing the illegal sharing and downloading of music.
Credit for the idea goes to MA Professional Writing and BA(Hons) Broadcasting students at University College Falmouth. Students’ comments during a Digital Branding unit taught by Aardvark Records Managing Director Alex di Savoia prompted him to implement a Green policy It’s a policy the label hopes will be adopted by other labels worldwide.
UCF media students’ felt MP3s were green and CDs were not While there wasn’t a definitive correlation between the students’ perceptions and their preferences of mp3s over CDs, it was evident that green and environmental issues were important to them By no means a call to arms to abandon CDs, the students thought the music industry could do more to address environmental issues in CD manufacturing.
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Online audio and video players (or widgets to those in the know) and its digital DJ pool are important audio and video promotional tools for the label However, Aardvark distributes countless promotional CDs to DJs, radio stations and music video channels around the globe Effective today, as part of its Green Policy, Aardvark will drastically reduce its use of promotional CDs. Instead, it will promote the use of its audio and video widgets to music editors and feature writers and music websites By copying a small amount of freely available hml code, online publications and websites will have the latest full-length Aardvark releases playing on their websites.
di Savoia said The petrochemicals used in manufacturing CDs are environmentally toxic CDs also don’t biodegrade What I’d like to see is record labels investing in research to make CDs environmentally friendly. Recycling unwanted CDs and DVDs could be one answer. The industry could win back deteriorating public perceptions by adopting green manufacturing processes It could also give the beleaguered CD format a new lease of life….
So how could this provide an answer to illegal downloading? di Savoia said: The problem current illegal music downloading and sharing measures have is they are punitive with an air of hysteria. People either tune out to the issue or take the excessively punitive measures as a challenge. Success lays in making the behaviour social unacceptable at a grassroots level The message would have to be clear: that mp3 sales fund the research needed to make CDs green…
di Savoia and University College Falmouth students believe lessons can be learned from drink driving campaigns. It’s definitely not cool to drink and drive. It’s becoming uncool to take drugs and drive. These campaigns are successful because the key message targets behaviour. If labels are prepared to fund research into â€?greening’ CDs from digital music sales, that’s something people would understand For example, if every label paid five cents from each mp3 sale into a research pot, then the estimated 40 billion illegal downloads for 2008 (IFPI) would have resulted in a loss of billions for this research and development That’s a very powerful and easy message for people to get and support….
