The move to digital music has seen greenhouse gases increase

[midian182]

In brief: Those who remember when music came on CDs, cassettes, and vinyl records might think that in today’s digital age the industry isn’t as harmful to the environment. Surprisingly, they might be wrong. According to a new report, the move from physical media to downloads and streaming has seen an increase in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

The report, called The Cost of Music, comes from a collaboration between the University of Glasgow and the University of Oslo. It states that while the recording industry’s use of plastics has fallen from 61 million kilograms to around 8 million kilograms between the years 2000 and 2016, the amount of GHGs it produces has increased significantly.

During vinyl’s heyday of 1977, 58 million kilograms of plastic was used by the industry, translating to 140 million kilograms of GHGs. During the peak of CD sales in the year 2000, 157 million kilograms of GHGs was produced. In 2016, the amount of plastic used had decreased eight-fold, but downloads and streaming were producing between 200 and 350 million kilograms of GHGs.

Digital music services require a massive amount of power for storing all their content, and there’s also the electricity people use when downloading and streaming. Additonally, consuming digital music today is cheap, with most services charging around 1 percent of the weekly US salary, meaning consumers are using the likes of Spotify more than ever before.

The researchers aren’t trying to stop people from listening to digital music; they just want them to be aware of the hidden environmental costs behind their behavior. “We hope the findings might encourage change toward more sustainable consumption choices and services that remunerate music creators while mitigating environmental impact,” said Dr. Matt Brennan, a Reader in Popular Music at the University of Glasgow.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/79570-move-digital-music-consumption-has-seen-greenhouse-gases.html

 

[VitalyT]

We hope the findings might encourage change toward more sustainable consumption choices and services that remunerate music creators while mitigating environmental impact

Good try. Am I supposed to feel even more sinister downloading 4K movies? I don't think so! Greeners just love barking at the wrong tree, as long as it makes another "news" for them. The world moves by improving the tech, not by dumping it whenever green people are agitated.

 

[NightAntilli]

So... Let me get this straight. The amount of plastic use decreased eight-fold, but, green house gas emissions doubled... This is a problem because....? Seems like a net positive still, doesn't it?

 

[RF Match]

We hope the findings might encourage change toward more sustainable consumption choices and services that remunerate music creators while mitigating environmental impact

Good try. Am I supposed to feel even more sinister downloading 4K movies? I don't think so! Greeners just love barking at the wrong tree, as long as it makes another "news" for them. The world moves by improving the tech, not by dumping it whenever green people are agitated.

Don't forget social media.. I bet it alone is the total cause of global warming!

 

[WithRespect]

Maybe they should study how much greenhouse gas is generated by people driving to therapy sessions to deal with guilt and anxiety over their carbon footprint.

Next expect a study frowning on the consumption of beans and cabbage as they cause farting.

 

[JamesJamesJames]

E-waste should have dropped off though right?

 

[p51d007]

The socialist/leftist/globalist/environmentalist need to know something...
(Man made) global warming is, and always has been a HOAX. A hoax played on the population,
thanks to the inability of (talking USA because that is where I live) of our public government (un)education
system to teach REAL science. These indoctrination centers, "mold" generation after generation of
morally bankrupt young adults who barely have the ability to tie their own shoes, let alone how to have
a cognitive discussion about so called "climate change" without having to run to their safe space.
They take 20-30-40 years of data and claim the "science" is settled. If they would take the time to go
back and look at HUNDREDS of years of climate data, LONG before the industrial revolution (which they claim is partly responsible for "climate change") they would see it has been MUCH warmer and MUCH colder. If you would take THAT data, and overlay it with the data of the sunspot cycle, you can see they almost parallel each other. We are just ending cycle 24, which, (if you are a ham radio operator) was one of the most uneventful cycles we've encountered in my 60 years. There were periods that the Earth facing solar disk, was devoid of ANY measurable sunspots. Those "spots", even the tiny ones are MANY times larger than Jupiter, which is many times larger than our planet. Those disruptions, belch out coronal mass ejections which bombard our planets magnetic bubble, which has an impact on the weather patterns, among other things.
Our planet, even with the garbage we through at it day to day, is impacted more by one good sized volcano eruption, than pretty much anything man can toss at it, short of an all out global nuclear war. And, if that were to happen, "climate change" would be the LAST thing I would worry about.

 

[GregonMaui]

We hope the findings might encourage change toward more sustainable consumption choices and services that remunerate music creators while mitigating environmental impact

Good try. Am I supposed to feel even more sinister downloading 4K movies? I don't think so! Greeners just love barking at the wrong tree, as long as it makes another "news" for them. The world moves by improving the tech, not by dumping it whenever green people are agitated.

no need to denigrate anyone.

 

[GregonMaui]

The socialist/leftist/globalist/environmentalist need to know something...
(Man made) global warming is, and always has been a HOAX. A hoax played on the population,
thanks to the inability of (talking USA because that is where I live) of our public government (un)education
system to teach REAL science. These indoctrination centers, "mold" generation after generation of
morally bankrupt young adults who barely have the ability to tie their own shoes, let alone how to have
a cognitive discussion about so called "climate change" without having to run to their safe space.
They take 20-30-40 years of data and claim the "science" is settled. If they would take the time to go
back and look at HUNDREDS of years of climate data, LONG before the industrial revolution (which they claim is partly responsible for "climate change") they would see it has been MUCH warmer and MUCH colder. If you would take THAT data, and overlay it with the data of the sunspot cycle, you can see they almost parallel each other. We are just ending cycle 24, which, (if you are a ham radio operator) was one of the most uneventful cycles we've encountered in my 60 years. There were periods that the Earth facing solar disk, was devoid of ANY measurable sunspots. Those "spots", even the tiny ones are MANY times larger than Jupiter, which is many times larger than our planet. Those disruptions, belch out coronal mass ejections which bombard our planets magnetic bubble, which has an impact on the weather patterns, among other things.
Our planet, even with the garbage we through at it day to day, is impacted more by one good sized volcano eruption, than pretty much anything man can toss at it, short of an all out global nuclear war. And, if that were to happen, "climate change" would be the LAST thing I would worry about.

The socialist/leftist/globalist/environmentalist need to know something...
(Man made) global warming is, and always has been a HOAX. A hoax played on the population,
thanks to the inability of (talking USA because that is where I live) of our public government (un)education
system to teach REAL science. These indoctrination centers, "mold" generation after generation of
morally bankrupt young adults who barely have the ability to tie their own shoes, let alone how to have
a cognitive discussion about so called "climate change" without having to run to their safe space.
They take 20-30-40 years of data and claim the "science" is settled. If they would take the time to go
back and look at HUNDREDS of years of climate data, LONG before the industrial revolution (which they claim is partly responsible for "climate change") they would see it has been MUCH warmer and MUCH colder. If you would take THAT data, and overlay it with the data of the sunspot cycle, you can see they almost parallel each other. We are just ending cycle 24, which, (if you are a ham radio operator) was one of the most uneventful cycles we've encountered in my 60 years. There were periods that the Earth facing solar disk, was devoid of ANY measurable sunspots. Those "spots", even the tiny ones are MANY times larger than Jupiter, which is many times larger than our planet. Those disruptions, belch out coronal mass ejections which bombard our planets magnetic bubble, which has an impact on the weather patterns, among other things.
Our planet, even with the garbage we through at it day to day, is impacted more by one good sized volcano eruption, than pretty much anything man can toss at it, short of an all out global nuclear war. And, if that were to happen, "climate change" would be the LAST thing I would worry about.

A Hoax by the Chinese for sure. People are saying, So many people are saying.

 

[GregonMaui]

You mean Spotify hasn't committed to green powered server sites, like other music streaming services? Shame! Shame!

 

[FPSChris]

Is it April 1st?

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Things would probably be significant better if these services just downloaded and cached the music on your devices so you never have to download it again. If EVERYONE did that, that would likely be a massive reduction in streaming.

 

[Markoni35]

Gramophones, cassette players and CD players were consuming energy too when playing music. Did they count that in? No? Of course not.

 

[toooooot]

I have a solution for this problem: replace Spotify with street performers. They are already alive and using planet's resources. Let them not be unproductive anymore. They should also be required to sing the songs people request.