A new initiative: Sustainable music streaming

At first blush, you might think that streaming music is more environmentally friendly that vinyl or CDs because of all the non-biodegradable plastic that’s used. Yuck, right?

While polyvinyl chloride is forever in a landfill, it can at least be recycled. Recycling methods are getting better all the time. Streaming is far more unfriendly to the planet, thanks to all the electricity it needs.

Think about it. All those data centres, servers, routers, and playback devices suck up a lot of energy 24/7. The carbon footprint of streaming is exponentially greater than that of physical music media.

Streaming isn’t going away, of course, so we’re going to have to find a way to mitigate its effect on the planet. The Music Climate Pact has published “10 Easy Tips for More Sustainable Music Streaming.” And given that we’ve got a climate emergency happening around us, this is important stuff.