Seminar "How Can the Music Industry Help the Planet? Inspiring Initiatives and Fresh Ideas"
Wednesday 19. March at 15:30 - 17:00 EET
Online
The music sector plays a significant role in both culture and the economy, but it also has great potential and a platform to contribute to sustainability and environmental protection.
Discussions about music and the environment often focus on live events—touring, large-scale concerts, air travel, plastic cups, and more—which are undeniably crucial issues. However, for songwriters, artists, record labels, publishers, and other music businesses, these topics can sometimes feel somewhat distant.
The upcoming seminar introduces inspiring initiatives within the music industry that contribute to the fight against climate change across various sectors of the industry.
There are many great initiatives worldwide, and in this seminar, we will highlight just three examples. However, we will also leave room to exchange fresh ideas and discoveries in an open discussion at the end. This will also be an opportunity to take a moment and reflect on what each of us can do within our own work to drive positive change.
Presenting their initiatives:
Saria Tourbah & EarthSonic
EarthSonic brings together science and art to tell the story of climate change through music, collaborating with indigenous musicians and scientists.
Saria Tourbah is the EarthSonic Manager at In Place of War, contributing to the overall development of the project. EarthSonic is a global project telling the story of climate change through music, working with indigenous communities, musicians, cultural organisers, scientists, climate activists, and experts. The project aims to distill big complicated data and reach young people's hearts and minds, inspiring a clear call to action and unifying a movement to tackle climate change.
She has been involved in the music and entertainment industry for several years, working with different artists and stakeholders, producing and managing live events, and keeping up with new trends and innovations. Passionate about promoting music from diverse cultures, she is also dedicated to helping the music industry become greener by encouraging sustainable practices and eco-conscious initiatives. An avid philanthropist, her dedication to humanitarian work has led her to co-found the Saja Foundation, an organization bringing art classes to vulnerable children in and out of hospitals. Saria is committed to using the arts as a powerful vehicle for driving social change and environmental awareness.
Larry Jaffee & Thermal Beets Records
Thermal Beets Records is a pioneering initiative with global ambitions, creating vinyl records made from plant-based materials.
Larry Jaffee is a Co-Founder of Thermal Beets Records, which aims to set the bar globally with sustainable record manufacturing that will replace PVC with the plant-based material developed by Evolution Music.
In regard to the music business, Jaffee is perhaps best known as Co-Founder & Conference Director of Making Vinyl, a B2B conference (established in 2017 in Detroit), celebrating the rebirth of global record manufacturing. A thought leader on vinyl’s resurgence and prolific journalist, Larry authored the 2022 book Record Store Day: The Most Improbable Comeback of the 21st Century. A part-time academic for 20 years, Jaffee currently is an adjunct assistant professor at St. John’s University in Queens, NYC, teaching a course called Writing About Music. Jaffee has worked in the music industry since high school as a band’s manager and, while in college, handled radio promotion in the New York area that helped lead another group to be signed by Elektra Records in 1979. Shelved nearly permanently due to a label shakeup, the record, Wowii, was finally released on vinyl by Reminder Records in 2023.
Becky Young & EarthPercent
EarthPercent is a climate fund for the music industry, co-founded by Brian Eno. One of its key initiatives, The Earth As Your Co-Writer, allows songwriters to credit the planet itself as a co-writer and donate a portion of their publishing royalties to environmental causes.
Becky Young is the Head of Operations & Community at EarthPercent, the music industry's climate foundation co-founded by Brian Eno. She leads The Earth As Your Co-Writer, an initiative enabling songwriters to share publishing rights with the planet.
Previously, Becky founded Anti Diet Riot Club, a global community featured in the likes of The Guardian, Grazia, and The Times, with a membership and social media following of over 125k. She has over a decade of experience in producing cultural and music events and is passionate about building communities of purpose and play.
Time:
March 19 at 15:30–17:00
Price:
General admission: €25
Free for Music Estonia members and participants of the AMP ARENDUS and FOOKUS programs (with a code)
The seminar will be held in English, conducted via Zoom, and will not be recorded. All participants are required to digitally sign a registration form to confirm their attendance. Relevant details will be sent via email.
The seminar is co-funded by the European Union and is part of Music Estonia's project: "Developing Estonian Music Enterprises and Enhancing Export Capabilities."
In partnership with Fienta and Music City Tallinn.