Some Music Inspiration

Artists who are greening up their tours or have a message in their lyrics

Going to air on Broadcast Amsterdam

This month, our co-founder Kathryn Saducas had the exciting opportunity to join Broadcast Amsterdam on their Dam Daily show. It was such a fun opportunity to chat about swap-studio, about our partnerships with local Amsterdam brands and our mission to address the issues of fashion waste.

Broadcast Amsterdam is a local, English language radio station and platform to share local stories, news and events with the local Amsterdam community in a fun and engaging way. It livestreams 24 hours per day 7 days per week! Make sure you tune in!

As part of the show, they asked us to provide a playlist of songs to go along with the discussion. We thought this was great fun and chose an eclectic mix of music from bands who are passionate about the environment and finding their own ways to address climate change.

You can listen to a recording of the show on the Broadcast Amsterdam website… fast forward 1 hour along to join the interview.

bands are going Green!

I read an article on Impakter about Coldplay and their goal to pause touring until they could make their shows more sustainable.

Many bands use their lyrics as a vehicle to communicate messages about climate change, but this seemed a little hypocritical given the impact months of touring has on the environment. Tours have a huge carbon footprint – think private jets, flights for staff, tour buses, shipping equipment, lighting and electricity, merchandise production, plastic cups… the list goes on.

And this is not a trivial thing… Since 2014, a company called Reverb has helped bands find sustainable solutions to their touring needs. It has greened over 350 concerts, removed 180k tonnes of carbon and raised over $4m for environmental causes.

I had lots of fun learning about these innovative bands wanting to do their small (or kinda big) part for the environment and this prompted me to compile a spotify playlist of my favourites…

Find the Spotify playlist here

Coldplay - Music of the Spheres World Tour

A goal to cut emissions by 50%.
Re-chargable battery to power the show – with recycled cooking oil, solar, pedal power AND a kinetic dance floor so the audience powers the show
Planting a tree for every ticket sold
Sustainably sourced merchandise
Green transport solutions

Childish Gambino - Feels Like Summer

The lyrics of his song talk about the climate crisis and the effect on nature. Rising heat, vanishing water, no air for the bees… it’s a climate wake up call.

Billie Eilish

This young star is well known for her passion for protecting animals, the environment and is a proud vegan. She has recently partnered with H&M on a sustainable fashion collaboration and is a huge influence on the younger generations.

Pharrel Williams

As well as famous musician, Pharrel is the Creative Director of Bionic Yarn, turning plastic retreived from the ocean into yarn to make textiles for fashion, luggage, furniture and more.

He also recently partnered with G-Star Raw to turn ocean plastic into denim.

P!nk - Beautiful Trauma Tour 2018

Partnering with Reverb, the tour eliminated 14,000 water bottles by providing filtered water, diverted crew waste from landfill by creating compost.

Massive Attack

The Bristol band commissioned a report on the music industry’s carbon impact and is lobbying the government to introduce legislature for the industry.

Maroon 5

They have hosted more than 60 non-profit organisations in Reverb’s Eco-Village, fuelled their buses with 18,000 gallons of biodiesel, reduced the carbon footprint of their tours, and have offset hundreds of thousands of dollars of CO2. They are also a strong pro-solar voice in the industry.