Brian Eno credits 'Earth' as a collaborator on a new track
The initiative encourages artists to divert 1% of their royalties toward climate activism
Mother Nature is credited as a co-writer on a new release by Brian Eno, with songwriting royalties from the track being donated to EarthPercent, an Eno-founded environmental charity.
Titled 'A THOUGHT', the instrumental song was released on March 10 and is part of Brian Eno's FOREVER VOICELESS album, which arrives on April 22 as part of Record Store Day.
The greater initiative is called 'The Earth as Your Co-writer' and encourages artists to credit the planet as a songwriter and recipient of their music royalties. So far, artists like Mount Kimbie, Dave and Stormzy producer Fraser T. Smith, Aurora, Jacob Collier and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend, Anna Calvi and Simón Mejía (Bomba Estéreo) have all pledged to donate at least 1% to the charity.
It's all part of EarthPercent's decade-long scheme of raising $100 million by 2030. The monies will be used to reduce the environmental impact of the music industry by offsetting sizable emissions due to touring, manufacturing and live events, as well as restoring nature, advancing policy change and securing "climate justice and fair environmental stewardship".
"The Earth as Your Co-writer is a beautiful idea in which we harness the poetic construct of The Earth as a co-writer of music and direct some of the income from our compositions towards tackling the climate emergency," explains Eno.
"EarthPercent provides an easy way for the music industry to make a difference by asking artists to commit a small percentage of their songwriting revenue. All musicians are inspired by the precious planet we live on, so it's fitting that we are now able to name The Earth as our co-writer."
Aurora adds: "I am currently writing my next album – it's an album about interconnectedness and the art of coexistence. There is no greater teacher than Mother Earth. There is no greater home, or provider. There is no better place than Earth. And that is why I want to make this whole album with Mother Earth as a co-writer, because without her there wouldn't be any such thing as music."
