By Henriette Søvsø Szocska

After more than a year and a half of waiting it was finally time for the first SPOT+ session since 2019. And to start off the programme was an exciting panel session with four competente debaters who would give their take on the sustainable future for the music industry. The panelists were William Skeaping (Extinction Rebellion), Linnéa Elisabeth Svensson (Greener Events), Nicolaj Holm (Aalborg Kongres og Kultur Center) and Martin Thim (Northside and Tinderbox // Down The Drain Group).

Moderator Anne Jensen found it fitting that this session was the very first at this year’s SPOT+. Something that the attendees agreed with her when Anne Jensen explained it with sustainability being one of the most important problems as of now. American William Skeaping was very active in the debate and started by outlining the climate problem that is present in the music industry.

“Right now we are in a slow motion catastrophe. The worst possible scenario is unfolding,” said William Skeaping. The rest of the panelists agreed with him and acknowledged that we have to see it as a collective problem which can also only be solved as a community. The panelists ment that festivals and venues carry a lot of the responsibility to promote a sustainable future for the industry because they gather many thousands of people and by that they create a huge consume and a visible print on the environment.

“As a part of reducing our climate footprints we have festivals without available parking spots. It bugs some of our guests but at the same time it forces them to use public transportation such as bus or train,” told Martin Thim and the rest of the panelists agreed that actions like that can make a bigger difference in the end.

The closing argument from William Skeaping was: “The problem can only be solved if everybody take part in the solution and make some radical changes in their cultural and economic habits”

Photo: Allan Niss