When Michael Martin—the man behind Music Matters, a local enviro-friendly marketing firm—spoke about greening the music industry at the Pollstar Conference in 2001, almost no one attended. This year, post-Inconvenient Truth, the panel discussion was packed. And there are more and more reports about artists greening their tours. The Barenaked Ladies did it. Guster did it; Andrew Bird, Gomez, Bonny Raitt and Willy Nelson, too. Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson have all done it. And now, with the help of the SMART program, launched this year by Music Matters, any band of forward thinking musicians, can, too. Easily.
A while back, I met with MMs Director of Enviro Music Programs, Wren Aigaki-Lander, who gave me the run down on SMART.
SMART, which stands for Sustainable Minded Artists Recording & Touring is an artist-funded and artist-driven campaign designed to get musicians thinking about the environmental impact of recording and touring. It’s taking the lead in the effort to green the entire industry by encouraging artists to rethink their day-to-day practices in terms of five categories: CO2 reduction and offsetting, energy efficiency, waste reduction, sourcing of sustainable merchandise, and communication with fans. And, for their efforts, SMART is offering musicians SMART-certification, which the folks at Music Matters hope will become something of a badge of honor throughout the industry.
Here’s how it works: Participating artists gain anytime, anywhere access to SMART’s web-based hub, which is full of practical resources. Say a band subsisting on gas station hoagies and Pabst for the past nine months is seeking a little variety in their diet, SMART’s online organic translator makes it easy for them to find healthier choices.
If the band isn’t sure where they’re going to find bio-diesel fix for their new van between Philly and New York City at 2 am on Monday, the Website promises some suggestions.
If the drummer doesn’t understand why the lead singer insists on using soy-based ink for the band’s posters, he can read up about its benefits online.
If those posters are looking a little expensive for the band’s budget, SMART can direct them towards vendors who offer discounts.
If the band has heard murmurs of the ever-increasing popularity of green tours, but doesn’t even know what questions to ask, SMART can connect them via email or blog link to tour managers and other artists who have a chosen the low-impact lifestyle.
If the band wants to get their fans on board by encouraging them to carpool or use public transport to get to shows, or the band wants to distribute information about their practices via newsletter, SMART can show them how.
Besides this knowledge database, artists who have specific questions about their particular needs while on the road or in the studio have access to a phone bank, which can hook them up with the right people.
Here’s what I find most fascinating: To consider a band on tour is to consider a vast network of interconnected people and places—from record execs in an L.A. office to that guy who cleans the toilets at some underground punk club in Poughkeepsie. When the artists, the public face of the industry, decide to make changes, they are potentially affecting everyone in the web. That is why SMART insists on being artist-driven. They are in the best position to have the greatest impact.
The incentive for following these prescriptions, as I mentioned, will be SMART certification. For now, one will either be certified or not, but in the future, there will be different levels of certification. That’s so bands don’t have to go straight from their current unsustainable practices to, as Aigaki-Lander said, “living in a grass hut.”
