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Positive News ... Music Fans Actually Want Green Events!

• Over 80% think noise, waste and traffic have a negative impact
• Big rise in CO₂ awareness at festivals
• 48% would pay more for greener events
• 36% say green is important when buying a ticket

And ... UK fans are more green than European fans!

Music industry campaign group Agreenerfestival.com has published the results of a new survey conducted by Buckinghamshire New University which asked music fans what they thought about green issues at live music events. The survey of 1407 festival goers across Europe clearly shows that music fans and festival goers are waking up to green issues. The survey, which took in 500 UK fans, nearly 600 fans in Finland and 330 fans in Germany and the Netherlands, is unveiled two years after Agreenerfestival’s first survey in 2006

FACTS BEHIND THE HEADLINE

In The UK 80% considered noise at festivals had an environmental impact, 82% thought waste had a negative impact, 56% thought festivals had a negative carbon footprint, 60% were worried about water, 53% were concerned with land damage and a whopping 84% thought travel and transport had a negative environmental impact. Awareness of the link between CO₂ and climate change was up 26% in two years.

48% of music fans in the UK say they would pay more for greener events and 36% say they consider a festival’s environmental policy before deciding to buy a ticket. Only 14% of European fans think about a festival’s environmental impact when buying tickets and just 38% would pay more for a ticket to promote green policies.

However, whilst 74% of UK fans said that they would travel on public transport if it was included in the price of a ticket but 80% of European fans would do this.

Agreenerfestival co-founder Ben Challis said:

“In the last two years we have seen a significant rise in audience awareness of green issues, in particular the audience’s own carbon footprint. Travel to and from festivals is something we all have to tackle now, looking at better public transport solutions as well as car sharing and other innovative solutions.”

Buckinghamshire New University’s Head of Programmes Teresa Moore says:

“In the past few years festivals like Glastonbury, Reading and the Isle of Wight Festival have worked hard to promote public transport and it now seems that the audience has digested this message and agrees – fans want to use public transport but the UK’s public transport infrastructure remains a concern...the rise in awareness of climate change is clear from the big rise in awareness of the impact of CO₂ emissions – 56% of festival goers now consider CO₂ a negative impact from festivals. It is encouraging that the willingness to adopt public transport shows a shift in thinking towards practical action by the audience”

Moore also explained that the survey was carried out by a small group of Buckinghamshire New University’s students and staff. A large proportion of the surveys were completed online both in the UK and in Europe. This meant that the data collection process minimised the project’s carbon footprint and any potential waste. The research will be initially published online on the University’s web site and on www.agreenerfestival.com .

The research also shows that 65% of UK music fans would still go to an event where their favourite band was playing even if the event was not environmentally friendly – this rises to 88% in Europe.

39% of fans say that food stalls at festivals should encourage re-usable crockery and cutlery instead of disposables (although 36% disagreed) and 52% would be happy to pay a refundable £2 charge on beer cups - although 30% disagreed. Those supporting these activities are actually down in numbers from the survey in 2006 when more fans were ready to adopt recyclable utensils, cutlery and cups. European fans are very similar – 38% saying stalls should use re-useable crockery and cutlery although only 36% supported deposits on cups – but 41% were resistant to deposits in Europe.

Challis adds:

“some of those surveyed in both the UK and Europe seem resistant to the environmental impact of festivals. In fact some disagreed with the fact there were any negative impacts at all. In the UK 34% do not think CO₂ emissions are a problem and 13% would not recycle. Another 36% would not want recyclable crockery and cutlery (even if free!) and 30% would not pay a refundable deposit of £2 for beer cups. This is a shame because festivals in the UK and Europe have shown the effectiveness of cup deposits – the Latitude Festival massively reduced onsite waste by producing a popular souvenir beer mug”

ABOUT BUCKINGHAMSHIRE NEW UNIVERSITY

The Research was Conducted by:
Buckinghamshire New University
Wellesbourne Campus
Kingshill Road
High Wycombe
HP13 5BB

Buckinghamshire New University’s has been running its highly successful music management programmes for over twelve years now and is recognised as a leader in its field.

Teresa Moore, who heads up the programmes says:

“they were the first of their kind in Europe and over the years our graduates have forged careers in just about every sector of the music industry as well as creating new music businesses. We currently have approximately 450 students studying our range of music management programmes. One of the main reasons for ours and our students’ success is that we are unique in having a full staff team of dedicated specialists from across the music industry with substantial industry experience from both the recorded music sector and the live sector. We have expertise in artist management, promotion, music & entertainment law, publishing, music marketing, branding and PR, the touring business, and sound and lighting production. Our industry contacts are unrivalled and we have always worked very closely with industry partners in the development and delivery of every aspect of our programmes. We pride ourselves on developing innovative and leading edge programmes.

The University is also home to the Centre for Crowd Management & Security Studies. The Head of the Centre and board members represent many of the major crowd safety and security companies in the UK. It also has a large number of international sponsors. Since its creation in 2003 the Centre in conjunction with staff and students from the music management programmes have conducted major research initiatives in the area of crowd safety management at many of the major music festivals both here in the UK as well as in Europe. During this time we have developed considerable expertise in the field of consumer based research on issues of concern to the music industry. “

ABOUT THE RESEARCH

The Research was Commission by:
A Greener Festival Ltd
8 Henley Prior
Collier Street
London N1 9JU

A Greener Festival was set up in 2006 to champion the sustainable events and environmentally friendly music and arts festivals. The organisation “is not for profit” and it’s main activity is to facilitate the exchange of best practice through the website www.agreenerfestival.com. The Organisation also promote the annual awards scheme (The Greener Festival Awards) for green festivals in association with the UK Festival Awards. The first winners of the award in 2007 included The Glastonbury Festival, Lattitude, The Big Chill and the Sunrise Celebration. The Organisation also supports and endorses a discount insurance scheme for green events from international insurance broker Robertson Taylor. Other activities include the new cartoon character ECOGIRL (tm) who is used to promote environmentally friendly practices , the Great Big Green Ideas competition (with the Big Issue) and a new educational DVD for universities, schools and colleges promoting green awareness and green solutions at live events. In 2008 AGF are launching training days staff employed in the live music sector to provide best green practices at events. AGreenerFestival actively supports Julies Bicycle, the UK’s cross music initiative on climate change and YOUROPE's Green n Clean initiative for European festivals.

RESEARCH DETAILS

The survey of 1407 music fans builds on the research by co-founder Claire O’Neil in the first quarter of 2006 which surveyed 649 festival goers (as well as 13 festival organisers).

In the UK 80% considered noise at festivals had a negative environmental impact, 82% thought waste had a negative impact, 56% thought festivals had a negative carbon footprint, 60% were worried about water, 53% were concerned with land damage and 84% thought travel and transport had a negative environmental impact.

In 2006 traffic and waste were the two most worrying environmental impacts with 70% strongly agreeing or agreeing that traffic and 71% strongly agreeing or agreeing that waste had a negative impact. Water wastage seems to be the least concerning impact with only 36% agreeing or strongly agreeing. 56% worried about CO₂ Emissions – an increase of 26% in two years. In 2006 CO₂ emissions had the largest ‘not sure’ response at 36% in 2006. Claire suggested that this may have been be due to some lack of understanding as to what CO 2 emissions consisted of or how they are created, or possibly an uncertainly to the inner workings of festival logistics. The 2006 research suggested that the more frequent festival-goer was more likely to strongly agree that this is a potential impact of festivals. But overall 30% agreed or strongly agreed, and 36% disagreed or strongly disagreed that CO₂ emissions are an impact of festivals.

The percentage of ‘not sure’ had dropped to 9% in 2008 whilst those who disagreed remains almost the same as 2006 (34%).
In 2008, 88% of the sample thought that organisers should be responsible for minimising any damaging effects that a festival may have and put the individual responsibility of festival goer (57%) and local authorities below this (42%)
In 2006, 91% of the sample thought that organisers should be responsible for minimising any damaging effects that a festival may have and put the individual responsibility of festival goer (79%) and local authorities below this (36%)
In 2008 74% of the respondents who answered said that they “would travel by public transport to a festival if it was provided as part of the ticket price”. In 2006 65% of the respondents who answered said that they “would travel by public transport to a festival if it was provided as part of the ticket price”
In 2006 57% of the respondents who answered said that they “would accept an increased ticket price for a festival [I] attend, if it was for the reason of improving environmental performance.” In 2008 this had DROPPED to 47% in the UK with 30% not sure
39% say that food stalls at festivals should use re-usable crockery and cutlery instead of disposables (although 36% disagreed) and 52% would be happy to pay a refundable £2 charge on beer cups - although 30% disagreed. Those supporting these activities are actually down in numbers from the survey in 2006 when more fans were ready to adopt recyclable utensils, cutlery and cups. In 2006 57% wanted recyclable utensils and deposits.
UK sample group% European sample groups%

CREDITS

The Research was conducted by Buckinghamshire New University, supervised by Teresa Moore BA ACCA, Head of Programmes and Jarno Stegeman BA, Lecturer. The research was managed by the following undergraduate students in the Faculty of Creativity & Culture: Heli Marjanen, Malte Ernsteing, Tamsin Vella and Adam Sharples and with Robert Moore (Oxford University). Sarah Hughes managed the data inputting.

The research was commissioned by Ben Challis, Co-founder, A Greener Festival

The 2006 research was conducted by Claire O’Neill for her final year dissertation at Buckinghamshire New University. Claire is a Co-founder of AGreenerFestival along with Ben Challis and Luke Westbury.