Green light for agency project

From Music Week. 9.2.2008, p.2.

The music industry’s green bandwagon is gathering pace, with the MCPS-PRS Alliance inviting environmental group Julie’s Bicycle to carry out its largest carbon audit to date.

Julie’s Bicycle was launched last year to undertake a major environmental review of the whole music industry - currently being conducted by Oxford Environmental Change Institute - and also help individual companies reduce their carbon emissions.

It has already worked with a wide variety of groups including Warner, publisher Stage Three Music, PR and events management group 9PR, Westbury Music, Bug Music and Heavenly.

However, the MCPS-PRS project, which will see the organisation work with its employees, stakeholders and 50,000 members and customers to reduce carbon emissions, is the green agency’s biggest challenge so far.

The organisation’s strategic projects director Graham Davies says the impetus for the research comes from recently-installed chief executive Steve Porter, who wants to ensure the highest standards of corporate responsibility.

“Looking at the extent of our impact on the environment is one way we can really help,” he says. “I think the music industry can take a real leadership role with this because there is already a lot of work being done, especially acts such as Radioheald [who last week pledged to try to plan future tours around city centres to enable fans to take advantage of public transportation].”

Julie’s Bicycle founding director Al Tickell says the group will start with an assessment of the scope of the audit. This will include looking at the MCPS-PRS building itself in Berners Street, Central London, which the collecting society shares with a host of other music industry groups, including the Music Publishers Association and British Music Rights.

It will also survey the Alliance’s employees and their habits. “We need to look at the energy management in the building, which includes waste, recycling and procurement of water, gas and other utilities,” she says. “Even getting people to turn off the lights in the building at the end of the day can make a substantial difference.”

Davies adds that the Alliance has also been providing information on the number of employees, where they live and their commuting patterns. “Business travel is a big issue for the industry and it will be a challenge for us, ” he adds.

However, he also believes the organisation can make a lot of headway with the amount of energy its computer and IT systems use and moving towards a paperless office. “We have already ensured that some licences can be granted online and are making ground on providing members’ royalty statements online,” he adds.

The review might also investigate alternative form of energy provision from solar panels to wind turbines, but Davies does not want to pre-empt the findings or suggest how much the Alliance wants to cut its carbon emissions.

However, he is keen that there is a regular reporting on the organisation’s greenness once the audit is completed and the management systems are in place to keep carbon emissions at a minimum.