Royalties for the Environment: Musicians give Earth Songwriting Credit
3 min read
Brian Eno has a charity organization called Earth/Percent. It encourages musicians to donate a portion of their earnings to environmental protection. They do this by making the earth a co-writer of their songs. The resulting income is then donated directly to environmental, research and climate protection projects.
Brian Eno, widely recognized as a musician, is commonly known as one of the founders of the band Roxy Music. Additionally, he gained fame for producing music for renowned artists like David Bowie, Talking Heads, and U2. Interestingly, he also composed the startup music for Windows 95, using an Apple Macintosh computer.
Brian Eno is and was many things: musician, producer, electronic music pioneer and visual artist. His latest project: the charity organization Earth/Percent.
Earth/Percent: Income from music royalties for climate protection
The charity organization advocates for increased sustainability within the music industry. Its main objective is to raise funds that will be directly donated to organizations focused on climate protection and environmental conservation. The concept behind this initiative is fairly straightforward:
- Musicians make the earth the co-author or co-songwriter of their songs. How much percent they give away, they determine thereby themselves.
- The Earth earns money through royalties, which refers to the income generated from song rights.
- The earnings are utilized to back projects focused on safeguarding the climate and supporting environmental organizations.
The first musicians have already joined in, including Fraser T. Smith, Jacob Collier, Anna Calvi, Mount Kimbie, Erland Cooper, Rostam Batmanglij and Aurora.
On Brian Eno’s latest single “Line in the Sand, Earth is already co-writer, alongside Hot Chip and goddess.
Earth/Percent’s goal: $100 million for climate protection by 2030
The objective of the organization is to generate approximately $100 million by 2030 to safeguard the climate. The funds will be allocated towards assisting environmental protection organizations, conducting research, and aiding individuals who are already impacted by climate change. It is worth noting that the music industry also contributes significantly to CO₂ emissions.
“I cannot reword”
The music industry: music streaming consumes an extreme amount of electricity
In the UK alone, live concerts cause around 405,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year. Mainly from transport, flights, consumption and waste. And platforms like Apple Music, Spotify or Pandora also consume extreme amounts of electricity to run their music streaming platforms.
The rights to the content remain with the original publisher.
