After this year?s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival ended, cleanup crews were faced with tons of debris left on the site in Manchester, Tenn. Key music industry leaders are joining together to promote greener practices.
(photo: John Partipilo / The Tennessean)
Whether it?s giant tour buses criss-crossing the country or thousands of fans littering concert venues, the music industry isn?t always the most environmentally friendly.
After the 2011 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, one official called the entertainment industry ?the second-dirtiest industry in the world.?
But key leaders in the music industry are trying to fix that, and they don?t mind if you call them environmentalists.
Artists, recording studios and instrument manufacturers are combining to promote eco-friendly practices in music. Among instrument manufacturers, major guitar companies are focusing on obeying conservation laws and promoting sustainable forestation practices for materials used in their products.
Last year, Nashville-based Gibson Guitar Corp. agreed to pay $300,000 on charges that it illegally imported wood from Madagascar and India, a violation of the Lacey Act of 1900, which prohibits importation of wildlife, plants and wood harvested in violation of foreign laws.
CEOs Chris Martin of C.F. Martin and Co. and Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars are among supporters of the Lacey Act, and they say the law doesn?t restrict their business ? it just forces sustainable practices and environmental awareness.
?I?m all for environmental sustainability in music,? Taylor said. ?It?s just about foresting properly.?
Taylor operates his own facilities in Cameroon, so he can ensure his materials are forested sustainably, legally and not in a way that?s harmful to anything or anyone else. He says that?s the easiest way to ?do it right, environmentally.?
Guitar manufacturers have relied on valuable spruce, rosewood, mahogany and ebony wood materials from such countries as Brazil and India since Martin?s ancestor Christian Frederick Martin Sr. built the first guitar in America in the 1830s. The industry is watching these materials dwindle rapidly, and many expect this will lead to a change in guitar-making altogether.
A tough sell
Chris Martin says if the time comes when guitars must be built from alternative materials, it won?t be easy to convince consumers that?s good.
?One of the things that we struggle with is the tradition that we have created around the instruments,? he said. ?We?ve done such a good job that it?s difficult to convince customers that other woods or other materials are appropriate.?
The Clean Vibes crew cleans up on Saturday morning during Bonnaroo. Adam Gardner, frontman for Guster, founded environmental sustainability group Reverb in 2004, the same year the band played Bonnaroo. (photo: John Partipilo / The Tennessean)
?As an acoustic (guitar) builder, protecting the rainforest and the hardwood is an obligation we have,? said Tom Bedell, co-owner of Two Old Hippies and Bedell Guitars.
Environmental activism in the industry isn?t limited to instrument makers. Adam Gardner, frontman for Boston-based band Guster, is well-known for being active on environmental issues. In 2004, he co-founded Reverb, a nonprofit dedicated to spreading environmental sustainability in music tours and throughout the music industry.
Reverb has worked with many popular artists to help make their tours ?green,? among them, the Dave Matthews Band, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jack Johnson.
Gardner says the platforms offered to popular bands such as Guster provide a valuable opportunity for spreading awareness.
?We can use it as a platform to support campaigns and organizations and to educate fans about what they can do to make shows less impactful,? Gardner said.
Gardner said Reverb?s mission is to involve artists and fans equally in a greater initiative for sustainable practices in live music. The group works on ride-share programs to cut down on travel emissions and with waste management groups to ensure no garbage is left behind. It also sources food and merchandise locally and organically.
The artists? job, he said, is to show fans that environmental sustainability is possible, and easy.
?It?s about the tour being a working example to the fans,? Gardner said. ?Artists can directly solve the issue and show the fans, ?Hey, look at what we just did to help the environment. Join us.??
Martin and Taylor say they would definitely be open to partnering with a group such as Reverb to help promote the issues, and Gardner agrees.
?Music has always been in the throes of social change,? he said. ?Us in the industry, we?re in such a unique position to make change.?
? Hamlet Fort
The Tennessean
Contact Hamlet Fort at 615-259-8071 or hfort@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @rangerham.
How to become active
To get involved with Reverb, got to www.reverb.org, or visit the group?s eco-village at The Woods Amphitheater at Fontanel.
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