Road, Rail, and Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Potential Benefits of a UK Musicians’ Railcard

Abstract

Whether of people or instruments, and whether by road, rail, air or foot, questions of sustainable transport in the music industry have been widely debated in academia. Transport is a costly facet — financially, environmentally and socially. Scholars such as Godlewski (2023) point to the negative impact of carbon emissions from private jet travel within the music industry, as in the case of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Whilst academics and critics have debated such celebrity musician examples, there is a dearth of research on the sustainability of transport modes availed of by less renowned musicians, such as orchestra players, session musicians and DJs. This thesis seeks to address this dearth.

Music Declares Emergency, an environmental pressure group, surveyed UK musicians to investigate their travel habits and attempt to uncover the difficulties and costs musicians encounter when trying to travel sustainably. They proposed the Musicians’ Railcard initiative, which was to provide free or discounted rail travel for UK musicians. The initiative received government backing but was rejected by the rail authority. On account of this, the survey results were never reported. This survey data was made available to me, enabling me to examine what it discloses about transport sustainability and the potential impact of a Musicians’ Railcard.

This thesis asks — how would a Musicians’ Railcard benefit the UK music industry? This question will be unpacked through two sub-questions. (A) What challenges do musicians face regarding travel for music events? (B) What environmental, social and economic benefits would the Musicians’ Railcard have? The findings will be relevant for transport policy for the music industry.

According to Brennan and Devine (2020), in order to understand the environmental impact of travel within the music industry, we must also consider the economic and social “pillars.” This thesis employs the triple-bottom-line theoretical framework to offer a comprehensive understanding of the prospective impact of a Musicians’ Railcard. This framework is well suited to the methodology of survey results analysis, allowing the environmental, economic and social effects of a Musicians’ Railcard to be analysed holistically from a musician’s perspective. In dialogue with analyses of specific challenges facing musicians, the resulting critical insights on music as a practice will aid the discovery of practical solutions. As the Musicians’ Railcard survey was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, the report of the survey data will also consider potential sociopsychological factors shaping participants’ answers, such as anxiety around public transport and social distancing.