Winds of climate change

Due to all the pre-Bloc madness, I forgot to mention to post this shameless piece of self-promotion: a piece that I had been working on for a long time was the cover story on last week’s Ticket, the entertainment supplement of the Irish Times (the newspaper I work for). There’s a link to the piece here, which focuses on the implications that climate change and peak oil will have on the live music industry. Radiohead have been at the forefront of efforts to reduce bands’ carbon footprints, commissioning a report into how they and their fans can become more carbon neutral (disclaimer: I have already heard the ‘well, just tell them to stay at home’ argument). What struck me most when I was researching the piece was how ill-prepared those who work in the industry seem to be for what’s going to become a reality very soon. Promoters, bands and their ‘people’ all seem to have a laissez-faire, ‘sure that’ll never happen’ attitude.

The other main point of interest that arose from the piece was that fans’ travel was responsible for a far greater proportion of the carbon footprint associated with concerts and festivals, dwarfing the toll that jet-setting bands and their entourages (plus their equipment) exert. Again, Radiohead have been quick to demand better public transport infrastructure for festivals and big concerts. Seeing as I usually focus on techno/electronic music, I wonder if any of this has implications for that style of music. I feel that it does for the following reasons: while international DJs only take up a few (business class) seats on a commercial flight, their schedules are much more hectic than most rock bands. Most big-name DJs are ‘touring’ every weekend, whereas bands only do say a twenty-date tour. It is also more common for DJs to flit around the world, from continent to continent, whereas bands usually stick to one continent at a time for logistical reasons. When you’ve a few tonnes of equipment with you, it makes it more difficult to ‘do a Sven Vath’ and be in Spain one weekend and Colombia the next week. So while there are some differences, there are also similarities. There have been tokenistic nods to address climate change from the techno scene: the Minus publicity department swung into action last year to declare that Hawtin would be offsetting the carbon footprint caused by his constant touring. Quite whom he would be offsetting it to remains unclear, but many of these initiatives have been discredited, mainly because there is little information as to how the offsetting companies, erm, offset. Then there is the issue of the fans’ footprint. In the same way that those attending stadium gigs and rock festivals account for most of the event’s carbon emissions, people going to say I Love Techno or Sonar would have the same effect. So how prepared - if at all – is the techno world for the stormy days ahead? Will rising travel costs kill off the international DJ circuit, in turn leading to small, locals-only scenes? What implications, if any, would this have for the music? How would it interface with the global connectivity that the internet affords? And what about vinyl, the physical art at the heart of this music: will the floundering petroleum industry deal it a death blow by failing to produce the oil byproducts necessary to manufacture it? I sense interesting if challenging times ahead…

Comments

[tom/pipecock]

to me, reverting back to a mostly local deejaying scene would be a much better option anyway. most of the innovations in dance music started out local before being watered down as they expanded globally. with the internet, we will likely never truly see the kind of insular scenes that birthed techno, house, garage, jungle, etc again, but a step in the direction of localized scenes at least increases the liklihood of a place having "a sound" more than they would today.

the attitude of being all about the "touring" deejay is stupid anyway, there are great deejays everywhere who get no love from local people who don't know shit.

[kenny]

Difference I think regards djs compared with bands is that they are catching flights that aren't privatly charted, so these flights would be taking place regardless, compared with a touring group who set up their own entourage, with sometimes silly amount of people - like Bjork, as you mentioned in the article. So I think its a bit incomparable.

And regards Radiohead, its more blah blah publicity them saying no to Glastonbury. They are only turning down Glasto because they are in the privelaged position where they don't need to take the offer. All their fans are already forking out big bucks to see them, so they don't got to worry about a)their fans missing them and b)them losing any great income from it.
Fair enough they are genuinley trying to do some help with the environment, but my cynicism kicks in when I hear a Radiohead stories these days. maybe its just cause i think they are massively over-rated...

[kenny]

Just read this morning in The Times that the story of Radiohead isn't true. Some crossed wires from a Thom Yorke interview somewhere else.

[Brophy]

Hey Kenny, there is a disclaimer on my piece online saying that Yorke's reason for pulling out of Glasto was mis-reported, eg the Sun ran with it and then so did others. I do think that Radiohead are pretty genuine about trying to minimise their carbon footprint and that of their fans...

[Brophy]

Tom, agree with you on local scenes generating innovation, look at chicago, detroit, more recently the hague in holland, and though you will shudder when I say it, Berlin too - look at all the great music that came from Hardwax/Basic Channel. having said that, techno is as vulnerable to the vagaries of culture globalisation as any other art form, thanks to the net etc.

i also think there are loads of people who are overlooked because they haven't arrived on a plane from somewhere - it's like an inferiority complex that people from your own town aren't as good as the 'stars'. usually, they're much better

[Z]

I went to school for this stuff for a couple years before switching careers. Basically, personal transport is relatively low on the oil consumption totem pole. In the U.S., citizens are more reliant on their own personal vehicles rather than public transportation, but that's not what makes our oil consumption so high. It's all the processing that goes on in our country. Moving supplies across the country in semi-trucks, heating homes, etc. That's what makes the U.S. such an oil-dependent country.

Currently, the U.S. average is around $3 a gallon. That's close to around 3-4 litres in the EU, so you do the math, it's roughly double. EU is proof that humans are willing to pay the price to travel on their own watch. In the U.S. market, I don't think this will change any time soon. It's hard to say about the EU.

Richie is taking the easy way out with carbon offsetting. He explains its his way of going green but he's really just paying someone else to take care of his problems. In reality, if everybody started doing this, people would just shift their problems onto each other. It's not a very useful model. He also says they're cutting back on paper at the minus offices. So, it's good to know they'll go from two reams of paper a year to one! WHOAAAA! This comes from the camp who passes out thumb-drives and DVDs filled with music to fans. Both mediums, especially the hard drives, aren't the most environmentally friendly items to dispose of. Sorry for ranting.

Fortunately for the EU, you already have the rails set in place which is a good alternative to flying. This isn't the case in most countries such as the US.

Simply put, the music industry would die out from poor sales before it dies out due to natural resource crises. When things truly do get bad with peak oil, global warming, and more, even people like Sven and Richie will have more to worry about than whore houses in ibiza.

[tom]

hehe, of course i can't deny the greatness that was Berlin initially, i have nothing against german people ;) but you are right, it is pretty much every great musical innovation that has occured in a very small local scene where it can incubate and consume itself for a little while as it becomes fully realised. this is why there are cities or areas reknowned for many genres of music even outside of the usual dance ones.

i also can't figure out the overlooking of local talent. it wasn't always that way, but i guess the allure of the globe trotting wonder deejay made it so. i have personally always been about the local cats, and we have had some great ones in pittsburgh that were not the people who ended up blowing up on a larger scale. typical.