musiKville was created in 2008 by a passionate New York based company, The Matt Group Ltd.  The birth of musiKville is due in large part to two of the most well known Manhattan Venues, Arlene’s Grocery and The Cutting Room.  The Matt Group, Ltd. was inspired by the local musicians whose music was heard through the doors of the Venues and out into the city streets. The interest and excitement from Artists performing at these Venues has launched musiKville into its modern day appearance, feel and capability.

musiKville has one goal in mind.  It is to give Artists no matter how big or small the ability to perform their own concerts LIVE! musiKville is The Home of the Indie Voice.  We offer all artists, regardless of their success level, the ability to share their music and personal interests with their fans. We are determined to act as a Virtual Tour Bus by giving Artists their own Global Microphone.

While doing so, we want to help the environment by eliminating 100% Car Exhaust Emissions Worldwide with every show performed on musiKville.

• Member Since: 08/23/2009
• Member Type: Music Service
• Member Website: www.musikville.com

Promotion.  Reviews.  Promotion.  Artist and Record Labels spend much of their time promoting to radio, magazines and blogs.   Many blogs receive piles of plastic CDs packaged in bubble-wrap padded envelopes each week.   In late July, the music blog Idolator decided to figure out how much that pile of CDs and packaging adds up to in terms of CO2.   In their post, “Are Music Writers Slowly Destroying The Planet,” they enlisted the pros over at Reverb to assist in the CO2 calculations and posted the results along with a lengthy chat between Reverb (Green Music Alliance Member) and Idolator about the topic.  The calculations certainly added up:

He calculated the weekly carbon footprint of all the music-biz mail filling my office, and what follows are his estimates as how to how much carbon dioxide (CO2) was released in order for these materials to make it my door:

Paper: 20 lbs (approx.) of CO2
Plastic: 30 lbs (approx.) of CO2
Shipping: 27.7 lbs of CO2

In total, 77.7 lbs of CO2 were released just so I could get my CDs every week. “On an annual basis,” Allenby wrote, “you’re receiving about 4,004 lbs of CO2, or just over two tons. This is equal to about 4,000 miles of driving, or electrifying your home for three months.”

Also, check out the comments on the post….  one of the biggest perceived challenges with digital submissions over CD submissions is getting noticed.   Will reviewers give just as much attention to an emailed link as a shiny CD with beautiful cover art sitting on their desks?

It is great to see a top music blog like Idolator taking a look at this issue.  One thing for certain is that music blogs are already a “greener” alternative to printed magazines…  so that is a start.  And for all the bloggers out there… please at least recycle the jewel cases!  Visit our resources page for recycling options.

Many thanks to Idolator for exposing this green topic.

Deeply rooted within the music and environmental communities, Reverb educates and engages musicians and their fans to take action toward a more sustainable future.

Reverb is a 501(c)(3) non-profit environmental organization founded by Guster guitarist/vocalist Adam Gardner and his environmentalist wife, Lauren Sullivan.

Reverb has coordinated greening programs for the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Bonnie Raitt, Phish, Sheryl Crow, Guster and many more. In addition, Reverb has been very pleased to work with Warner Music Group, Live Nation and other industry organizations.

Reverb has worked on over 70 major tours and 1,100 events, helped artists and fans reduce or eliminate over 60,000 tons of CO2, fueled trucks and busses with over 370,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel, hosted over 1,700 environmental groups in their interactive Eco-Village, and reached over 8 million fans.

• Member Since: 08/14/2009
• Member Type: Non-Profit Environmentalist Organization
• Member Website: www.reverbrock.org

With an estimated attendance of 10,000+ on the Woodstock 40th Anniversary weekend, the Green Music Fest in Chicago aims to be a blast while also showcasing environmentally friendly products and services.  Taking place on Saturday August 15th and Sunday August 16th in Chicago’s Eckhart Park (1330 W. Chicago Avenue).

Vendors will be exclusively green or eco-friendly, whether selling crafts made with recycled materials or techie gadgets made with green components.

The City of Chicago Department of Environment’s Chicago Center for Green Technology is sponsoring the green section of the event with an estimated 60-plus green vendors.  Tickets are still available, so visit the official site for more details.

The weekend of August 15, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival.  There were plans to host a free anniversary event New York City’s Prospect Park and Berlin’s former Templehof Airport, but due to lack of sponsorship and funding they just could not pull it off.

In an age of mega festivals, many of which are making efforts to be green (see previous posts on Green Music Alliance), it is too bad that this one could not happen.  With locations in two very populated cities the organizers would have tackled one of festivals biggest green challenges — getting the people to the grounds.

You can read up quite a bit about the anniversary and where the original artists are today on Treehugger.  CBSNews also has a full feature section with videos and photo galleries.

Article courtesy of Planetwize.

What do steel, rubber factories, mechanics, gas pumps, freeways, and Detroit have in common? They all play a part in the ‘technological lock-in’ – as the academics say – of a less-than-green American car culture.

The music business, it seems, is locked in to huge stages, bright lights, semi-trucks, tour busses, jewel cases, power-hungry analog equipment and, perhaps most challenging, millions and millions of miles driven by fans to catch the show.

The notoriously resistant-to-change industry, however, is greening up, as more bands and fans take action to reduce their impact. [Read more →]

Julie’s Bicycle is a UK-based not-for-profit company helping the music industry cut its greenhouse gas emissions and create a low carbon creative future. Their site offers many green resources and they have documented research on music industry issues ranging from CD Packaging to Audience Travel Emissions.

Their 50+ page Green Music Guide (PDF) published March 2009 is available directly from the Julie’s Bicycle site.  Audience travel at 45% and venues at 24% make up the top two in the list of the London music industry’s green house gas emissions followed by compact discs at 15%.  The guide goes beyond simply listing topics that we all share concerns about and includes case studies on actual events, festivals, venues and bands.