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Cool Hunting celebrates Michael Stipe and Beatie Wolfe world first eco record

The world’s first commercially available sustainable bioplastic record will be a split single, featuring songs by Michael Stipe and Beatie Wolfe. Limited to 500 copies, and made by Evolution Music in collaboration with climate emergency organization EARTH/PERCENT, the album (available for pre-order today) comprises Stipe’s debut solo track “Future, If Future” and Wolfe’s “Oh My Heart.”

Founded by Brian Eno, EARTH/PERCENT focuses on five key issues: “greening music, energy transition, climate justice, legal and policy change, and protecting nature.” All proceeds from sales of the record will go to the organization’s grantmaking fund.

Wolfe tells COOL HUNTING that her involvement in the project was organic, and began when she gave a talk at SXSW with Eno earlier this year. The talk was about “our environmental work and how art and nature are core to our humanity.” Next, Wolfe worked with EARTH/PERCENT on their Earth Day initiative, “which evolved into this very special limited edition bioplastic 12-inch release with Michael Stipe and myself, pioneered by Evolution Music. This project felt like the perfect fit as it was records that first imprinted on me as a kid and made me want to reimagine the vinyl for the digital age which led to a series of new formats for music. So this release really combines two of my greatest loves: the environment and records.”

She tells us that she selected the track because its theme is apt for the project, and for the overall mission. “I felt like ‘Oh My Heart’ was the right song for this eco release as it’s a cry for the planet and humanity at this point in time. EARTH/PERCENT had released the live version of the song (which I performed at the Nobel Prize Summit) for their Earth Day campaign so it was great to have this unreleased studio version available for the first time. And it was wonderful to hear the two songs side-by-side, as they felt like the perfect complement to one another.”

Images courtesy of EARTH/PERCENT

UPROXX features Michael Stipe x Beatie Wolfe's Bioplastic record for EarthPercent

Michael Stipe’s Single Released On A New Type Of Vinyl Record Is The First Of Its Kind

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

Michael Stipe is changing the game this Friday (September 2) on both the music front and the environmental front. His new, double-sided single “Future If Future” (a song originally released in 2018) will be the world’s first commercially available bioplastic 12″ vinyl record, coupled with Beatie Wolfe’s “Oh My Heart.”

MICHAEL STIPE

This release is part of a larger Bandcamp project in collaboration with “Future If Future” producer Brian Eno’s environmental charity EarthPercent that will include over 100 other songs. The bioplastic vinyl, designed by British music sustainability organization Evolution Music, is said to be “a genuinely revolutionary moment for both the music industry and record collectors, offering a non-fossil fuel future for vinyl recordings that globally amount to around 180 million LPs — or 30,000 tons of PVC — a year. The solution uses circular economy principles to replace the harmful production and use of single use plastics and minimize waste in the music industry.”

BEATIE WOLFE

The goal is to replace polyvinyl chloride, a plastic labeled “the most environmentally damaging” according to Greenpeace, with a more viable alternative. The single will be limited to 500 copies pressed on fossil-fuel-free vinyl. Stipe says, “Simply showing that this type of solution-based project is possible opens pathways to a brighter future.”

Check out images of the vinyl and Wolfe holding a test pressing above.

Pitchfork features Michael Stipe x Beatie Wolfe's Bioplastic record for EarthPercent

Michael Stipe Single Announced as First Commercially Available Bioplastic Record

The 12" split single will include his Brian-Eno produced track “Future If Future” as well as a song by Beatie Wolfe

By Madison Bloom

August 31, 2022

R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe is gearing up to release his long-teased solo song “Future If Future.” The track will be issued on a split 12" single with singer-songwriter Beatie Wolfe, however the disc will not be pressed on traditional polyvinyl chloride. Instead, the record will be the world’s first commercially available 12" made from sustainable bioplastic. The split is being released on Bandcamp via the Brian Eno co-founded environmental charity EarthPercent and Evolution Music. It will be available for pre-order on Friday (September 2), in a limited run of 500 copies. Find images of the bioplastic 12" below.

Stipe teased the Eno-produced “Future If Future” back in 2018 in support of the March For Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C. The flip side of the new 12" will include Wolfe’s track “Oh My Heart.” Both cuts were originally available to download as part of EarthPercent’s Earth Day campaign, which included music from Hot Chip, Nile Rodgers, Big  Thief, Peter Gabriel, and many others.

The bioplastic record was developed by Evolution Music—a British music sustainability organization that wants to provide non-fossil fuel solutions for vinyl. All funds from the sale of the new 12" will go toward EarthPercent’s five core areas of work: greening music, energy transition, climate justice, legal and policy change, and protecting nature.

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

Beatie Wolfe added: “It’s been fantastic to join forces with EarthPercent on the environmental front and for this very special release with Michael Stipe. 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 12" 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.”

“We’re honored to have been given these amazing tracks from an incredible array of artists to raise money for our planet,” a representative for EarthPercent wrote in press materials. “The fact this has also led to a historical world first commercial release on the BioPlastic 12" with Evolution Music is beyond exciting. A huge thanks to all the artists taking part, and to Michael Stipe and Beatie Wolfe for being a part of this groundbreaking release. #nomusiconadeadplanet.”

WIMN features Michael Stipe x Beatie Wolfe's Bioplastic record for EarthPercent

Michael Stipe And Beatie Wolfe To Release World’s First Commercially Available Bioplastic 12”

By Myki Angeline

The 12” vinyl will be limited to 500 copies in support of EarthPercent

The world’s first commercially available release on bioplastic record will feature “Future If Future” by Michael Stipe and “Oh My Heart” by Beatie Wolfe.

Former R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, along with pioneering artist and musician Beatie Wolfe have teamed up to create the world’s first ever eco-friendly 12″ record. An environmental design solution by Evolution Music, it is a genuinely revolutionary moment for both the music industry and record collectors, offering a non-fossil fuel future for vinyl recordings that globally is c180 million LPs (or 30,000 tonnes of PVC) a year.

The solution uses circular economy principles to replace the harmful production and use of single use plastics and minimise waste in the music industry. Making it easy to make the change by producing bioplastic LPs (instead of PVC) using the record pressing plants’ existing machinery and production processes.

Michael 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.”

Beatie Wolfe said, “It’s been fantastic to join forces with EarthPercent on the environmental front and for this very special release with Michael Stipe. 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.”

Visionary Artist Beatie Wolfe To Preview Her Environmental Piece ‘From Green To Red’ At The Nobel Prize Summit

She continues, “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.”

12” will be limited to 500 copies and be the first commercially available release on bioplastic vinyl. The release forms part of EarthPercent Bandcamp project of over 100 tracks featuring Hot Chip, Nile Rogers, Big Thief, Anna Calvi, Peter Gabriel and many more to be simultaneously available as a single download collection. The entire collection will be available September 2, 2022 at: Music | EarthPercent.

All funds raised will be focused on EarthPercent’s five core areas of work, which are greening music, energy transition, climate justice, legal and policy change, and protecting nature. To find out more about how EarthPercent is using working with the music industry to create a better future, visit EarthPercent.