Music Declares Emergency (MDE) is an environmental
pressure group
Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...
with no commercial or political affiliations whose purpose is to create a vehicle for musicians and the music industry to bring their influence to bear on climate breakdown mitigation.
MDE was launched in July 2019, by a working group of UK musicians and music industry executives in conjunction with
Julie's Bicycle, a non-profit environmental charity for the creative industries. Signatories to its declaration of intent include artists across pop, classical and folk genres as well as organisations such as
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...
,
Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...
,
Warner Music
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...
and
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
.
Its stated aims are to encourage the music industry to innovate new practices to reduce, and ultimately remove, the carbon footprint of the music industry and to work with artists to engage all communities in the debate while calling on the government to target a 2030 date for net-zero emissions.
In 2019, MDE was awarded IMPALA's Outstanding Contribution award. In 2020, MDE was nominated as the charity partner of the
Scottish Album of the Year Award
The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award is an award given annually for an outstanding album produced by a Scottish artist. The award was launched in 2012 by thScottish Music Industry Association(SMIA) in partnership with Creative Scotland
Cre ...
s and curated announcements on zero carbon commitments in conjunction with labels
Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others.
Inspired by a visit ...
and the
Beggars Group.
In 2020, an MDE delegation including Fay Milton (from the band
Savages), Edwin Congreave (from the band
Foals
A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal is ...
), Peter Quicke (Co-CEO Ninja Tune) and Alison Tickell (CEO of Julie's Bicycle) met with
Frans Timmermans
Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis''.
Given name
* Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diploma ...
, Vice-President of the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
, to discuss the role that music can play in supporting the
EU Green Deal and contribute to Europe's green recovery strategy.
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In 2020, singer Billie Eilish signified her support by wearing and projecting their slogan, 'No Music on a Dead Planet', during her global live stream event.
In 2021 it collaborated in the launch of Earth Percent with the aim of raising funding from the industry itself to subsidise organisations working on the climate emergency, including those focused on the music industry.
Around Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...
on 22 April 2021, composer Errollyn Wallen launched MDE's 'Turn Up The Volume'BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's Loose Ends, a series of interviews and seminars which involved artists such as Melanie C
Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was ni ...
, Declan McKenna
Declan Benedict McKenna (born 24 December 1998) is an English singer-songwriter. He initially gained recognition for winning the Glastonbury Festival's Emerging Talent Competition in 2015. McKenna self-released the song "Brazil", a protest son ...
, Peter Hook
Peter Hook (born Woodhead; 13 February 1956) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Joy Division and New Order. Hook often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings wi ...
and Annie Mac
Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...
.
Active MDE groups exist in Germany, France, Switzerland, Chile, Canada, and the USA.
References
{{reflist, 30em
Environment and society
Climate change in music