Op-Ed: Climate Issues Talks for Change in Music Production

In spite of limited achievements in the recently concluded United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, businesses around the world have the opportunity to take immediate independent steps for an environmentally safer world. In music production, the technology for this already exists: Download formats and streaming music represent easy green alternatives for consumers, while physical compact discs and retro-fashionable LP vinyls belong to the past. However, record companies have not been aggressive with promoting these alternatives. Therefore, many consumers still prefer CDs, defending their position with arguments such as "feel of ownership" and "feel of the action of putting a disc into the player." In the light of the symbolic backwardness of the old formats, defending traditional music media is not well justified today.

The real climate issues are - as evidenced in Copenhagen - far larger than internet music technology can solve alone. Downloads do, however, present one important pilot product for the world. A unanimous shift from CDs to internet-based services would convey to the world leaders that musicians and the music industry are united in the fight against global warming. This would additionally decrease the use of polycarbonate plastic and millions of unnecessary daily postal service transactions, where single CDs are sent across the globe in polluting airplanes.

Blue Music Group took unconditional steps six months ago in silence: All compact discs manufactured by the company now belong to history. Hence Blue Music Group shines with its absence on the shelves of the traditional record stores, but has successfully gained visibility on the internet. This is an initiative for other record companies to follow, and to demonstrate their determination against global warming as we are entering the second decade of this century.