Green Roster membership is divided into two tiers for bands: Basic & Advanced.

Advanced membership is geared toward bands who have more experience in the music industry and are actively touring.

Basic membership is geared toward bands who are relatively new, or less active in their touring.

 Both levels of membership still must take the pledge below.

GREEN ROSTER PLEDGE for Bands

  • Pursue environmentally sound practices on tour and on stage

  • Support Green Roster Members

  • Stay informed on new environmental developments in the music industry

  • Make an effort to minimize the carbon footprint of my business

  • While on tour, try to visit and promote public lands

  • Share the Vision of Sustain with the music industry

MEmber RESPONSIBILITIES 

Both Basic and Advanced Green Roster band members must fulfill the responsibilities outlined below. Read further on for the responsibilities and perks unique to the Advanced members.

Universal Green roster band responsibilities

As an accountable member of Green Roster, we require a few things that let us know that you're actively following the Green Roster Pledge. Generally we'll need:

  • A baseline assessment of your band's current environmental practices.
  • What goals you have for improving your band's sustainability in the coming year. Sustain will work with you to come up with Annual Green Goals that work for the size and scale of your band. The Resources page is a great place to learn about green practices.
  • Green Tour Check-In: Pick one tour a year (note that Advanced bands must do this more frequently) that your band will commit to a Green Tour Check-In. The check-in, described further HERE, is a process for setting up green goals before a tour, sharing your green actions during the tour, and then reflecting on what goals were achieved or needed more work after the tour has ended.
  • Display of the Green Roster stamp on your website, and on your merch table.
  • Offer one free song download to Green Roster members once per year.
  • Offer guest passes (if possible, and not more than one per year) to Green Roster members when you are playing in their area.
  • Get the word out about Sustain to your audiences! We need you to make a social media post mentioning Sustain/Green Roster at least once a month.

Sustain conducts an annual review of its Green Roster members to make sure they are upholding the pledge and their responsibilities. The review will occur about a year out from when you join Green Roster.

Universal Green Roster Band Perks

Green Roster isn't just all work and no play! Here are some of the benefits of joining. Note that additional perks for Advanced members are described further on.

  • Showing the world that you value the environment and that you're leading the music industry into a more environmentally responsible future.
  • Belonging to a network of music industry members who all care about the environment and are willing to support each other.
  • The use of the Green Roster stamp. Sustain is working to get the word out about Green Roster so that consumers will know what the logo represents, and will be willing to seek out Green Roster products and music.
  • Exposure to Sustain's greater audience and partner organizations.
  • Learning what steps you can take to improve your sustainability.
  • A quarterly newsletter that highlights member accomplishments and their green work.
  • Guest passes to Green Roster band shows when possible (one pass per band per year).
  • Free song downloads from Green Roster members.
  • Sustain will feature your band in our printed materials at festivals and other events.
  • Promotion to event planners looking to hire environmentally friendly bands for their events.
  • Your own feature page on the Sustain website that covers the green work your band is doing.
  • Your shows listed on the Sustain events calendar.
  • Eligibility for Songscape participation!

With Advanced Green Roster Membership, you'll have more responsibilities, but also more perks!

Advanced Green Roster Band Responsibilities

In addition to the universal responsibilities outlined above, Advanced members must:

  • On a monthly basis, submit a short video (15-30s) for a "Green Topic of the Month" series, which highlights a predetermined topic relating to green touring (e.g. how you conserve energy on stage, showing off an eco-friendly merch item).
  • Have the Green Roster stamp somewhere in your CD packaging.
  • Participate in Green Tour Check-Ins for at least three tours a year.
  • Mandatory carbon offset for your Green Tours (note that for about 1,000 miles traveled in a van, it can be as cheap as $6 to offset the carbon!).

Advanced Green Roster Band Perks

  • Better discounts from Green Roster luthiers and studios.
  • Sustain's promotion of new album releases to our audiences.
  • Higher probability of getting chosen to participate in a Songscape project.

how it works

Contact us below, and if we think you're a good fit, we'll set up a phone call with you so everyone can get to know each other better. We will send you a pledge sheet to sign, and a link to a questionnaire. As part of the questionnaire, you can indicate which type of band membership you'd prefer, and Sustain will notify you if your request to be an Advanced band is approved. You'll also have to do a baseline assessment of the green things your band is already doing, and what could stand to be improved. We'll work with you to develop Annual Green Goals, so that we can identify how Sustain can help, and so that we can review your progress the following year. After the joining process is complete, we will announce your membership and we will provide you with the stamp files and stickers.

As for media, once a month we ask for you to make a social media post that somehow ties in Sustain or Green Roster. We'll also work with you to determine which tour(s) you'll be doing the Green Tour Check-In for. Advanced Members will also receive a list of the monthly video topics.

Interested? E-mail Harrison@sustainmusicandnature.org to get started!

Green Tour Check-Ins

Green Tour Check-Ins are a process for setting up green goals before a tour, sharing your green actions during the tour, and then reflecting on what goals were achieved or needed more work after the tour has ended. Basic membership bands must complete at least one Green Tour per year, while Advanced membership bands must complete at least three Green Tours per year.

What constitutes a tour? Sustain is pretty flexible on this. If your band doesn't stray too far from home, a tour could consist of a weekend trip to go play one venue. If your band is made up of migratory birds, a tour could consist of a month-long trip away from home, playing multiple venues along the way. We will leave it up to you as to what 'tour' you would like to designate as a Green Tour, though longer tours will give you more opportunity to really dig your teeth into going green for an extended period of time.

How does it work?

  1. Designate your Green Tour at least one week before you're headed out.

  2. Establish your green goals for the coming tour. Sustain has a long list of green goals. Pick 10 if you're a Basic member, 12 if you're an Advanced member. Designate 2 of your own creative green goals too (check out the Resources page for some inspiration). Here's the link to the Green Tour Goals form, which will notify Sustain about your upcoming Green Tour.

  3. During the tour, use social media to share your Green Tour goals in action. Don't forget to tag Sustain and to use #GreenRoster. Sustain expects to see at minimum one Green Tour post, though we encourage you to do more.

  4. After the Green Tour is complete, check-in with Sustain to reflect on how the green touring went. Did you achieve all of your goals? What was most difficult? How do you want to improve next time? Is there a way Sustain can help make green touring easier? Answer these questions at our post-tour survey HERE.