While it’s well known that factors like transportation, agriculture, and fashion use up resources and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, less time is devoted to considering how the music industry as a whole plays a role in impacting the environment. It can be easy to forget that something we cherish so much can also be a part of the problem.

The rise of streaming services has led to lower consumption of records and CDs, and therefore less plastic packaging. Such tangible methods of music consumption may be more obvious in their effects on the environment, but streaming is harmful in its own way.

A collaborative study between the University of Glasgow and the University of Oslo found that in 2000, when CD sales were at their highest, music consumption in the U.S. generated 157 million kilograms of greenhouse gases.

It requires huge banks of servers which store the files that must be accessed every time a person plays a song. Each retrieval uses energy, which in turn generates carbon emissions.

Streaming also drains the battery of devices, which adds even more energy output into the equation. Though streaming has a far lower per-unit carbon footprint than CDs or vinyl, the way we take advantage of the massive amount of music available means that our consumption is far higher than ever before. When the greenhouse gas emissions of physical music production and streaming are compared, the impact is undeniable. A collaborative study between the University of Glasgow and the University of Oslo found that in 2000, when CD sales were at their highest, music consumption in the U.S. generated 157 million kilograms of greenhouse gases. In 2016, it was at an estimated 200-350 million kilograms.

Another issue altogether is live performances. If you’ve ever seen a concert venue after the crowd has left – scattered with crushed plastic cups and bottles, confetti, and lost accessories – you know the kind of waste a show’s audience can produce, but the attendees themselves only scratch the surface. For popular musicians with high production values and world tours, the environmental cost of transporting the artist and their equipment, running massive light and sound systems, producing merchandise, and even the food and drinks sold at the venues add up to a staggering impact.

According to environmentalist startup Musicians for Sustainability, which pledges to hold venues accountable to incorporate more eco-friendly changes, concert goers in the United States alone “produce 116,843,033 pounds of waste each year and emit 400,000 tons of carbon emissions.”

Festivals that last multiple days, such as Coachella and Lollapalooza, can generate over 100 tons of solid waste per day.

Festivals that last multiple days, such as Coachella and Lollapalooza, can generate over 100 tons of solid waste per day.

Despite these detrimental byproducts, music is an integral part of the human experience, not to mention a hugely important industry. It’s simply not realistic to expect that people would be willing to strictly limit music consumption, or stop going to concerts altogether. But changes can be made, whether minor or large-scale, and many plans are already in motion.

In February of 2023, Universal Music Group announced that they would be expanding their preexisting collaboration with Reverb, a non-profit that aims to make tours, festivals, and venues more environmentally friendly. Their strategies include eliminating single-use plastics, providing locally sourced food, and giving fans a chance to donate to charities in an “Action Village” at the concert venues. Artists such as P!nk, Billie Eilish, and Fleetwood Mac have had their concerts “greened” with Reverb’s help.

Universal Music Group also introduced the Amplifier Award last year, which highlights an artist who has displayed a particular commitment to environmental consciousness and supporting nonprofits. Eilish was the inaugural recipient, and this year’s winner was the indie-pop supergroup boygenius, whose efforts with Reverb resulted in over 11,000 single-use plastic bottles avoided, and over $300,000 raised for various causes, environmental and otherwise.

Other artists have chosen to take their own path towards sustainability, though not as extreme as Neil Young’s. Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour, which began began in March of 2022 and will end in November of this year, promised to reduce carbon emissions through three key principles: Reduce, Reinvent, and Restore. The strategies listed on their website include portable batteries that store renewable energy for the shows, rewards for fans who choose low-carbon methods of travel, and “drawing down” carbon dioxide by contributing to efforts like reforestation.

In 2019, the Dave Matthews Band was recognized by the United Nations for their efforts in environmental advocacy. They’ve been partnering with Reverb since 2005, and their methods have been similar to Coldplay’s, using renewable energy sources and reusable water bottles to reduce their footprint.

But how can everyday music listeners help reduce the far less visible impact that streaming has on the earth? One way has to do with the devices we listen on. Using fewer devices and keeping them for longer, as well as listening to music on smaller electronics like phones or laptops, cuts back on streaming emissions and e-waste at the same time. Another helpful trick is to download music rather than streaming it anew each time, which can reduce carbon emissions by 80%, so consider keeping your most listened-to albums or playlists downloaded on your phone. Of course, ultimately the most helpful solution is to listen to less music. While that’s a difficult ask for many people, even a little bit of reduction can make a difference.

Issues of waste and carbon emissions in the music world, let alone in every other sphere of our society, can seem overwhelming and impossible to solve. Such huge issues require huge changes, and sometimes a total restructuring of our system. But as Dave Matthews told Variety while on tour in 2019, “Everyone can make a difference…Imagine that you are the balance, and if you don’t do something, it will fall the wrong way — and if you do, it will fall the right way. Every little bit we do can change the world.”