Bloomberg Businessweek USA - 09.03.2020

◼ BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek March 9, 2020

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transport, and work with a climate research cen-

ter to track its carbon footprint.

The moves reflect a new level of concern in the

industry about the environmental impact of live

music, which generated more than $10 billion in

revenue in 2018. Issues such as global warming

and sustainability have become passionate con-

cerns for many of the concert industry’s fans—and

increasingly for the musicians that cater to them.

“Stepping out for the environment isn’t for hip-

pies anymore but it’s something everybody is con-

cerned about,” says Fine Stammnitz, a Berlin-based

manager at Green Touring Network. “Many artists

are realizing this, that they have the potential to

influence in a positive way.” The organization has

published a guide on how to make tours greener.

It’s not always easy to walk the talk. A grow-

ing number of artists, including Fatboy Slim and

Peggy Gou, have environmental demands built

into their contracts when they tour, such as

bans on plastic cutlery in backstage catering. But

there’s almost no way of avoiding carbon emis-

sions produced by a tour, which involves moving

hundreds of people and tons of equipment across

large distances. And since it’s also the single big-

gest source of income for most acts, hitting the

road is inevitable for bands of all sizes.

Lisa Pomerantz, who books travel for acts

including Jack Johnson and Childish Gambino,

says that real change will require action by venue

owners, concert promoters, and the fans. Having

an artist, say, ban water bottles or plastic straws

from their dressing room goes only so far. “Right

now,” she says, “it’s like putting lipstick on a pig.”

Pomerantz says she’s investigated ways to make

tours more environmentally friendly, but some

things won’t change unless everyone in the con-

cert ecosystem starts demanding them. At a confer-

ence for the music production industry, she asked

the head of a major bus company about the possi-

bility of equipping a vehicle with a five-gallon water

receptacle to minimize the use of plastic bottles on

board. He said nobody had requested something

like that yet, but if Beyoncé did, he’d build it.

After piracy decimated sales of recorded music in

the early 2000s, many acts invested heavily to max-

imize the spectacle of their live performances and

charge higher ticket prices. Today’s fans are willing

to shell out more than $100 to see Beyoncé, Pink, or

Taylor Swift, because they employ a cast and crew

similar to Cirque du Soleil or a Broadway show. Yet

such major tours can require substantial resources.

The set and production equipment for Beyoncé’s

Formation world tour filled seven Boeing 747s and 

more than 70 trucks, according to the BBC. More

than 2 million people saw the show, which stopped

in cities across North America and Europe.

Major acts like Coldplay can afford to halt touring

while figuring out how to lessen their environmen-

tal impact. The band grossed $731.8 million touring

in the last decade, according to industry trade pub-

lication Pollstar. But lesser-known artists can’t stay

off the road, since streaming revenues haven’t

Footprint of a tour

Venue energy

use

10.

Audience

travel

10.

Band travel

4.

Merch

3.

Accomo-

dation

3.

Germany

8.

Austria

6.

Switzerland

4.

DATA: GREEN TOURING NETWORK, WORLD BANK

Tons of CO2 emitted by the indie

band We Invented Paris’s 2014

Europe tour

Tons of CO2 emitted per capita in 2014

Other 0.