The Sound of Change: How Music Moves Climate and Culture
Music shapes culture, brings people together, and helps ideas travel. How does it influence environmental and social impact, and how can the music industry itself achieve better sustainability outcomes?
Dylan Siegler, SVP and Head of Sustainability at Universal Music Group, will talk with Kyle Devine, award-winning author of Recomposed: Music, Climate, Crisis, Change. Devine is Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Winnipeg, and starting in January 2027, he’ll lead a research team at University College Dublin studying the political ecology of AI in music. From touring to records to streaming, they’ll explore where music’s environmental issues lie, what the industry is doing about them, and the systems that perpetuate the status quo. Copies of Recomposed will be raffled off and available to be signed.
The conversation continues with a panel moderated by Alison Taylor, Clinical Associate Professor of Business & Society at NYU Stern and an expert on the organizational dimension of corporate responsibility and business ethics. She’ll be joined by Dylan Siegler, Carlos Chirinos-Espin, Director of the NYU Music and Social Change Lab, whose work explores how songs and live music shape public attitudes toward social issues, especially among young people, and Kurt Langer, who advises artists and brands on audience engagement and climate-focused projects. Together, they’ll discuss how music can influence public conversation and bring about lasting change.
Amy Skoczlas Cole, Executive Director of the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, will also offer remarks connecting the conversation to CSB’s work helping businesses turn sustainability challenges into opportunities for innovation, resilience, and long-term value creation.
Bring your questions, then stay to meet the speakers and continue the conversation over light refreshments.