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The Good Life (on Saddle Creek Records) are cutting edge when it comes to their packaging choices. Being green can be easy and economical.
For the last several months we’ve been talking with people
in the music industry about how
packaging choices impact endangered forests when there are readily available alternatives.
While there are indeed people that have been making major headway in greening
the music industry, I want to take a moment to highlight The Good Life’s latest album, Help Wanted Nights out on Saddle Creek Records. The Good Life is Led by Cursive's Tim
Kasher (vocals, guitar), the band–featuring Stefanie Drootin (bass), Roger
Lewis (drums), and Ryan Fox (guitar, keys)–“creates bold songs that are not
afraid of the mixed up emotions they describe, sometimes in vicious,
heart-battering detail.”
Last Spring I met
with Ryan Fox in Omaha
who works with Saddle Creek and plays in The
Good Life to talk about their packaging options and what they can do to help
green the music industry. Ryan was
already very interested in going this route, and his main interest was finding
packaging options for their upcoming release that is both environmentally
friendly and economical as well.
Smart man…
 The Good Life
succeeded, not only in creating the ideal packaging for a CD release but also
in creating an album you'll want to listen to time and time again. The CD topspine, booklet and CD sleeve are
all made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials and the recording is carbon
offset thanks to partnering with Native Energy. Check out their website and some reviews of
the album.
In a recent aricle I
wrote for Musicians Atlas , Ryan was also quoted:
Cutting-edge indie
labels are also committed to reducing waste. Says Ryan Fox of The Good Life/Saddle Creek Records, “It's a little
disheartening to think that bands, artists, musicians can unknowingly have
goods manufactured in their names part of which are the product of old-growth
forests or unsustainable practices or that contribute unnecessarily to waste.
It's not uncommon for these CDs and their packaging to turn out to be discarded
ephemera for many of the people who buy them. So our thought was "why not
seek out the option for bands to choose packaging from recycled and more easily
recyclable materials if they're available and affordable?"
Over half of the
forests that are cut down in the US goes to packaging many different
types of products. Think about all the
millions of CD booklets and sleeves that are sold that are coming directly from
endangered forests when there are readily available alternatives. As a lover of music and the environment, it’s
ever so important to me and others in the same boat that musicians do all they
can to lighten their impact.
What is the greatest thing about greening the music industry? Bands like The
Good Life and others on Saddle Creek have an impact that is multiplied by all
their fans, press, and friends. As a musician, the impact they have goes above
and beyond what any one person can do.
Working together with non-profits like Dogwood Alliance and other bands and
labels to green the industry and reduce the overall amount of packaging they
use, we can transform the packaging problem, ensure the protection of
endangered forests and slow global climate change.
Check out the other albums, Art in Manila and Two Gallants, recently released on Saddle Creek that also have
made great choices when it comes to their packaging. It looks like, feels good, and is good for
the future.
 Art in Manila
and Two Gallants self-titled release, also 100% Post-consumer recycled content
and whose production is carbon neutral came out this year on Saddle Creek records. It looks like Saddle Creek Records is
becoming a leader in the music industry when it comes to representing what can
be done a with a little research and a lot of heart.
Thanks from all of usto Ryan Fox, The Good Life, and Saddle Creek.
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