{"id":1888400,"date":"2026-04-17T19:37:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1888400"},"modified":"2026-04-17T19:37:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:37:45","slug":"2026-music-sustainability-summit-recap-9-actions-the-industry-can-take-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1888400","title":{"rendered":"2026 Music Sustainability Summit Recap: 9 Actions the Industry Can Take Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\tOn Tuesday (April 14), hundreds of people from across the music industry and around the world convened at Solotech Studios in Los Angeles for the third annual Music Sustainability Summit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tProduced by the Music Sustainability Alliance, the day-long event included more than a dozen panel discussions looking at sustainability via topics ranging from live shows, fan travel, food, waste, mass events and more. Comedian Esteban Gast kept things light between panels, a plant-based lunch kept attendees energized, and a variety of product developers put on inspiring 90-second presentations on sustainable innovations to glowsticks, water fountains, guitars and more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tMSA Bobby Weir Sustainability Awards: See the Inaugural\u00a0Winners\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Katie Bain<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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\n\tFurthermore, the first-ever winners of the MSA Bobby Weir Sustainability Awards, named after the late Grateful Dead founder and longstanding environmental advocate, were presented to Manchester\u2019s Co-op Live, REVERB and Support + Feed founder Maggie Baird<\/strong>. \u201cBobby understood that music doesn\u2019t exist in a vacuum,\u201d Music Sustainability Alliance leaders\u00a0Amy Morrison\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Kurt Langer<\/strong>\u00a0said while reading a statement provided by the Weir family during the awards presentation. \u201cIt lives in communities, it\u2019s in the air that we all share, and he understood the responsibility that comes with bringing people together. He approached touring not just as a series of events, but as a living, breathing ecosystem, one that could evolve, improve and give back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWith that very sentiment at heart, the summit made for an inspiring day of insightful conversations, presenting real industry-focused solutions to humanity\u2019s most pressing problem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tBelow are nine action items discussed during the summit that the industry can take right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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If You Want Vendors to Adopt Sustainable Options, Talk to Them About Their Concerns<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Jeff Kravitz\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I<\/span>n a conversation about the road ahead for sustainability in live music, Live Nation\u2019s director of global sustainability, Lucy August-Perna<\/strong>, advised that it\u2019s wrong to assume vendors don\u2019t care about sustainability. Moreso, it\u2019s that \u2014 from lighting to energy to food service and beyond \u2014 people have pride in the work they do and systems they\u2019ve built, and are thus often reticent to try new sustainable approaches, given that they might jeopardize their contribution to a show.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a mistake to think people don\u2019t care about this,\u201d said August-Perna. \u201cI think as sustainability professionals, that\u2019s what we\u2019ve gotten wrong for a long time. Because when we think people don\u2019t care, you just dig in deeper and you yell at them and try to sell them a solution, and people don\u2019t respond to that at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe solution she proposed is to create a conversation about sustainable options with various teams and really \u201cunderstand people\u2019s underlying anxieties and ambitions\u2026 It\u2019s not that they don\u2019t give a s\u2013t about the environment\u2026but people have pride. This is an industry where people have been doing this for a very long time, they want to be the reliable vendor they don\u2019t want to disappoint\u2026 When you come in and ask someone to change something, you\u2019re kind of challenging, and I will even go as far as to say kind of threatening, something they\u2019ve worked on for a really long time and are very proud of, so I think we\u2019ve got to be aware of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAugust-Perna advised anyone who\u2019s in a position to offer sustainable options to first get into the minds and ask questions \u201cof production managers, promoters, folks that are truly the ones who are why we have these incredible shows. Let\u2019s understand what they\u2019re resistant to, because I guarantee you that it\u2019s not that they don\u2019t care\u2026Let\u2019s start there and understand if this change were to happen, what would it mean to you, and try to solve for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Offer Plant-Based Food Options \u2014 and Win Big Shows<\/h2>\n
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I<\/span>n a panel discussion about creating more sustainable menus at shows, Live Nation\u2019s vice president of touring, Lesley Olenik<\/strong>, said that for Billie Eilish\u2019s 2024\/25 Hit Me Hard and Soft <\/em>tour, routing was partially based on which venues could offer creative solutions for high-quality plant-based meals.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe used this as part of the venue picking process,\u201d said Olenik. \u201cSo Tulsa came to the table with a lot of really great menu options, and they were super creative. That wouldn\u2019t be a market that we would normally play, but Billie can pretty much sell out any market, and if they\u2019re willing to make their menus fully plant-based, that\u2019s more important to us than going and playing in Dallas, for instance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Hire a Food Consultant for Tours<\/h2>\n
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I<\/span>n the same panel about food, Olenik and Elish\u2019s mother, Baird, who is a well-established environmental advocate, talked about hiring a food consultant for the Hit Me Hard and Soft <\/em>tour who worked with catering teams from every venue ahead of time to ensure there were good, plant-based meals from the touring crew. The tour also brought in plant-based meals from a local restaurant for every city on the tour.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tBaird added that the crew also received a health insurance stipend and access to a mental health program. \u201cWe also had massage therapists and puppy rooms and coffee carts,\u201d she said. \u201cThe food is part of a big package to make the crew happy. The crew buy-in is extremely important.\u201d (She added that to fulfill union rules, catering also offered one meat option, which was kept behind a curtain.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Create Top-Down Directives, Especially From Artists \u2014 And Write Them Into the Contract<\/h2>\n
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A<\/span>cross multiple panels, speakers emphasized the power artists have to create change from the top. Kris Barberg<\/strong> of Los Angeles-based organization Ecoset, which repurposes materials from film and TV shoots, spoke about working on commercial shoots with Billie Eilish, saying \u201cit\u2019s her top-down directive to have zero waste.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cShe wants composting in the green room, plant-based meals and snacks for the crew,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd because it\u2019s her directive, it works. It trickles all the way down for her team, and then we become a service provider that fits right along in line with the goals, and we can report back on the zero-waste aspect\u2026 It is a team sport, but when it\u2019s top down, it\u2019s most effective.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThis sentiment was echoed by MSA co-founder Michael Martin<\/strong>, whose company r.World provides reusable serveware items for mass gatherings. Martin spoke about how 15 artists, including U2 and Jack Johnson, have given r.World the right to go to promoters to say they want r.World products implemented at shows.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe challenge is if it\u2019s a request or a requirement,\u201d said Martin. \u201cIf it\u2019s in the contract as a requirement, it will be done. If it\u2019s a request, it doesn\u2019t happen, and the reason it doesn\u2019t happen is that fear and anxiety. To sell in a permanent activation for reuse involves a lot of people: concessionaire, the venue owner, the sponsorship team, guest services, security. [It] touches everyone in the building, and if one person says, \u2018I don\u2019t know,\u2019 it can sometimes torpedo the whole thing. Which is why artist support is so critical to open the door and give people the confidence to know that \u2018Alright, it\u2019s going to work.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Make a Plan for Your Event\u2019s Waste, and Make It Contractual<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Jeff Kravitz\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A<\/span> conversation about lessons the industry can learn from mass-scale events featured representatives from Disney, the LA28 Olympics committee and Global Citizen. LA28\u2019s Becky Dale<\/strong> spoke to the fact that the Olympics, like most large-scale gatherings, will have a lot of leftover materials once the games are over. As such, it\u2019s crucial to work out how these materials will be disposed of during the planning stages, so they don\u2019t end up going straight to landfills \u2014 and so organizers are not left holding the bag.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAsk your suppliers to plan for the second life of everything you\u2019re buying up front,\u201d said Dale. \u201cBecause if you ask them to do it after the event, they\u2019re going to be like, \u2018See ya,\u2019 and then you\u2019re stuck with all of this stuff you have no idea what you\u2019re going to do with\u2026 If you ask those questions up front, you find out what they can do, you build it into the contract, and then you hold them to that contract. The size of the problem you have to deal with after the event goes from [big] to [small].\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tGiven that waste disposal can be costly, Dale also referenced the \u201creal operational and financial benefits\u201d to planning ahead: \u201cGetting rid of stuff is not free,\u201d she said, \u201cso even if a contract costs a little bit more but it has that built in, that can save you money on the back end.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Find One Person Who\u2019s Excited About Sustainability and Work With Them\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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A<\/span> point brought up during the food panel that applies to all areas of the industry is simply, as Stefanie Lynch<\/strong> of Greener By Default said, to \u201cstart somewhere.\u201d Venues, events, labels and other industry entities are large ecosystems with longstanding systems, so identifying one person within that ecosystem who can move sustainability practices forward can have a powerful effect on the entire operation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tLynch offered the example of arena food service vendors, who are used to having different types of entertainment every night, \u201cso they\u2019re open to that kind of change and excitement, they just need someone to push them in the [sustainable] direction or challenge them to that direction. I would say that applies to every industry, no matter where you are. Just be that little push for someone to make a different choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Offer Incentives to Reduce Carbon Emissions From Idling Cars<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Jeff Kravitz\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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T<\/span>he biggest and most pernicious issue when it comes to music-industry-related carbon emissions is fan travel to and from events. During a conversation on fan travel, Aileen McManamon <\/strong>of the Green Sports Alliance shared a simple and effective way that Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. (where the New England Patriots play), reduces emissions from idling cars leaving the parking lot \u2014 which anyone who\u2019s ever tried to drive away from a big concert or festival knows is also a major problem in music.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tGiven that Gillette Stadium has only one road in and out, McManamon shared that stadium operators offer $75 Visa gift cards to fans who sign up to park in a specific lot and then stay for 90 minutes after the game is over. Having these attendees stay onsite significantly reduces idling, lowering carbon emissions and making egress easier for all involved. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s working out really well,\u201d McManamon said. \u201cPeople are staying late, and they\u2019re often spending that $75 on food or extra merch, and they\u2019re just having a good time as opposed to sitting in the car and kind of losing that great feeling they have if the team has just won.\u201d She noted that if the attendee has to change their plans and leave early, they simply give the gift card back. The model seems easy enough to replicate at many venues and festivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Make It Fun<\/h2>\n
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M<\/span>yriad panels emphasized that to get buy-in on a sustainability initiative, you \u201chave to make it fun,\u201d as McManamon said during the fan travel panel. \u201cThe thing that doesn\u2019t work is any kind of finger wagging or PSA \u2018Hey, did you know we have transit access?\u2019\u201d he continued. \u201cYou have to make it four things: easy, fun, social and a little bit of reward.\u201d While rewards can be physical items like merchandise, she suggested offering up unique experiences, like the chance for fans to be on the Jumbotron during a game or show.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThis idea was repeated during the food discussion, when panelists mentioned the \u201cBillie Burrito\u201d that, with the consent of Eilish and her management, was put on the menu at myriad Eilish shows.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not just putting good food items on the menu, but how do you market them? How do you talk about them, how do you get people excited about them?\u201d said Greener By Default\u2019s Lynch, who noted that the carbon emission reductions from plant-based foods sold at just 21 Eilish shows equated to 40.8 metric tons.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Whatever You Do, Do It Now<\/h2>\n
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B<\/span>aird offered some realism at the end of her food panel, saying that while it\u2019s important to be hopeful, optimistic and inclusive, it\u2019s also crucial for everyone to take action right now. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe have to take it really seriously,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are in so many crises right now. Every existential crisis we\u2019ve ever dreamed of is actually happening right now. It\u2019s terrifying, but this [environmental] one looms. If we survive the rest of them, this is waiting for us, and the music industry is responsible\u2026 These small changes are great, but don\u2019t think you cannot do it. You really have to talk about food. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I talk to people who are in very deep forms of sustainability, and they\u2019re just not talking about food. Please just make sure, no matter what event you\u2019re talking about, whether it\u2019s a meeting at lunch, a party, whatever, that food is the single most impactful thing you can personally do, and we just have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Billboard_MSS2026-Lead.jpg?w=1024″] On Tuesday (April 14), hundreds of people from across the music industry and around the world convened at Solotech Studios in Los Angeles for the third annual Music Sustainability Summit.\u00a0\u00a0 Produced by the Music Sustainability Alliance, the day-long event included more than a dozen panel discussions looking at sustainability via topics ranging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-1888400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1888400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1888400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1888400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1888400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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