Michael Stipe to release new climate-friendly vinyl in aid of EarthPercent

WED 31ST AUG 2022 18.23 BST

Former R.E.M. frontman, Michael Stipe, has announced a special collaborative single with Beatie Wolfe in aid of climate protection charity EarthPercent.

Founded by Brian Eno in 2021, EarthPercent aims “to offer simple and innovative ways for businesses and artists to donate to the most impactful organisations addressing the climate emergency”.

Eno’s organisation has already started to gain traction with the backing of countless bigwigs in the music business. Back in April, the organisation celebrated EarthDay by releasing numerous exclusive tracks donated by such artists as Stipe, Coldplay, Eno, Anna Calvi, and Jarvis Cocker‘s JARV IS, via Bandcamp.

Proceeds from all sales of these songs were donated to the EarthPercent fund, which focuses on five core areas of development: “greening music, energy transition, climate justice, legal and policy change, and protecting nature.”

Today, it’s been confirmed that the former R.E.M. frontman will release ‘Future, If Future’, his debut solo single initially released in 2018, on the world’s first commercially available bioplastic 12″ vinyl.

The record also features ‘Oh My Heart’ by Beatie Wolfe and will be available for pre-order here from Friday, September 2nd. The run will be limited to 500 copies.

EarthPercent has teamed up with Evolution Music for the release, marking a “genuinely revolutionary moment for both the music industry and record collectors, offering a non-fossil fuel future for vinyl recordings”.

In a statement, Stipe said: “I’m thrilled to be working with EarthPercent and Evolution Music on this release, imagining positive innovation through action. Simply showing that this type of solution-based project is possible opens pathways to a brighter future.”

Wolfe added: “I’m constantly thinking about how we can take the best of the old and best of the new, bridge the tangible and digital, and reclaim as much as we innovate, and this new eco vinyl feels like a perfect embodiment of this.

“I wrote ‘Oh My Heart’ as a cry for the planet and humanity, and it was recently encoded in glass and included in the Global Music Vault in Svalbard to be preserved for 10,000 years. So I couldn’t think of a better way to have it tangibly out in the world now.”

Eno, who collaborated with Stipe on ‘Future, If Future’, also spoke of the record earlier this year. “I’m very pleased with the way it’s gone. It’s a very good song, a very Stipe song. Beautiful lyrics, extraordinary piece.”