Streaming Services Cause Environmental Impacts

By Gissel Quechol-Raya

As radios begin to see a decrease in users and more streaming services are the to-go option for music enjoyers, it is not to say that college radio is also suffering from the same situation. Understanding that there is an environmental impact caused by the streaming services and other social media platforms, Spotify received a grade D on clean energy.

Now that I am aware of this grading system it will maybe reconsider what music streaming service I use and I will keep downloading my music and making sure the offline option is on while using the app. As Alexis Jones describes in her story titled “The Small, But Mighty: College Radio”, many of the younger generations will tune in to other streaming services to enjoy their music options. Yet it is the radio that will allow for “new and undiscovered music to rise” (Jones, 2021). 

New streaming services are that are the most used are Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, and others. It is described that Spotify has more than 365 million users (Caddy, 2021). Well turns out I am one of those users simply because it is cheap, I can listen to music offline, and their system of genre and mixes allows me to find new artists on my own. As it was mentioned in “The Internet’s Carbon Footprint”, it was suggested that instead of using it as a streaming service where you are using data or wifi to listen to music or podcasts, it is ideal to download the songs. Which I have been doing for ages, almost all of my playlists are downloaded and the ones that are not are due to not listening on a regular daily basis.

As an Amazon user, I have had my self-conscious moments where I realize how unethical and impactful the company can be. Using Amazon Prime can cause more environmental impacts such as be more trucks driving around, more use of coal and gasoline, and sometimes due to wanting items cheaply, it can be a mass-production factory where workers are suffering from the company. This has made me reconsider using Amazon as my source of shopping items, if possible I am hoping to just be able to find it in stores locally instead of using Amazon to buy something simple. 

It is important to understand the environmental impacts caused by streaming services and by the services of Amazon. Such understanding and knowledge can lead multiple to change their lifestyle, I can cut back on how much time I spend on watching Netflix, and HBO. The only advantage to such streaming services like those despite their grade being D (Green Peace), is that I can use the download feature also instead of relying on my data or wifi to watch a show. This eye-opening of the environmental impacts will leave me educating others as well so they can also change their lifestyle.

Sources

Caddy, B. (2021). The best music streaming services 2021: Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and more. Techradar. Online

Greenpeace. Find out if your apps are powered by renewables or dirty energy!. Online

Jones, A. (2021, October. 25). The Small, But Mighty: College Radio. Environmental Journalism WordPress. Blog Post. Online

Zomorodi, M. (2019, July. 15). “The Internet’s Carbon Footprint”. [Audio Podcast Episode S5:Ep3]. IRL Firefox. Online

This story was updated on December 9, 2021.