Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

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The Times APRIL 19, 2024 - by Kieran Gair

ROYALTIES FROM MUSICIANS' SOUND EFFECTS WILL HELP NATURAL WORLD

At first glance the American rapper Missy Elliot and The Beatles share little in common.

Listen a little more closely, however, and you might detect a common thread between the queen of rap and the Fab Four: both sampled natural sounds in some of their biggest hits. In Elliot's case it was the chirping crickets in The Rain and the trilling of an elephant in Work It. The Beatles used at least ten animal sounds in Good Morning and it would have been remiss of them to record Blackbird without a cameo from its namesake.

Until now, nature's contribution to music has gone largely unheralded. For the first time, however, nature will be recognised as an official artist on streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and SoundCloud. It will mean the artists who use natural sounds in their music can choose to list "Nature" as a featured artist.

The global initiative, Sounds Right, was announced yesterday by The Museum For The United Nations - UN Live.

Katja Iversen, the museum's chief executive, said the initiative would "meet people where they already are - on their screens and in their earbuds - with stories and formats they can relate to and actions that matter to them. Recognising nature as the valuable artist it truly is will be a game changer."

At least half of royalties from tracks that feature "Nature" will be collected by the charity EarthPercent and distributed to environmental causes under the guidance of biologists, activists and indigenous representatives.

Brian Eno, who has remixed his David Bowie collaboration Get Real for the project, said: "It's a way of saying to artists, 'We all use sounds like seagulls and waves and wind. Why don't we pay nature a royalty?'" He hoped there would be a "river" or even "a flood" of money to distribute.

Ellie Goulding, thirty-seven, has updated her song Brightest Blue to feature sounds from Colombian rainforests.

The singer and UN Environment Programme goodwill ambassador, said the project "harnesses music's unique power to untie people and spark change".