The story behind Coldplay in making concert music more sustainable is encouraging. Together with SAP, a technology partner and a company highly committed to the environment, it wants to reduce the carbon footprint of its ‘Music of the Spheres World Tour’ by 50%.
It is not a secret that more and more companies are developing environmental initiatives to improve their sustainability and that of their products, especially technological ones. However, it is not something that usually happens in the music industry.
Luckily, sometimes we come across stories that are worth listening to and sharing, like that of Coldplaythe music band that is in full world tour, ‘Music of the Spheres World Tour‘.
Taking advantage of their stops in Spain these days (no less than four sold-out concerts) and our coverage of the SAP Sapphire congress in Barcelonawe have had the opportunity to see first-hand the Coldplay’s path to sustainability through various initiatives.
A priori, it does not seem that there can be much of a relationship between a technology company and a music group. Two very different industries that in this case have crossed paths towards environmental sustainability: SAP is a Coldplay technology partner and is behind the app that the band has created to the delight of their fans worldwide. Is about an app that not only seeks to create a unique experience for them, but also to increase environmental awareness and the visibility of their carbon footprint.
And it is that Coldplay decided a long time ago that they had to do their bit to reduce their CO2 emissions by 50% on their new world tour: “Over the last few years, we have been figuring out how to put sustainability at the center of our tour , and the app plays an important role in making that vision and commitment a reality. We are very proud of our collaboration with our partner SAP, who have created a powerful and engaging app that helps our fans choose more sustainable ways to travel to our shows,” said bandleader Chris Martin.
This chronicler had an encounter with Kerstin Verzano, Head of Europe for SAP Academy for Engineering, the person who has led the development of this app. To this day, it has already been downloaded by more than 350,000 followers of the band in more than 150 countries.
Verzano explained that this development combines interactive and immersive experiences along with features to help fans make more environmentally friendly choices when it comes to travel: “Once users download the app, they will start their journey and explore different sections that have unique ways of becoming part of the Coldplay universe along the way.”
The app offers four main sections:
– Trips: Users can calculate the impact of their travel to and from shows by selecting from seven different modes of transportation. The app will provide rewards via discount codes to be used in Coldplay’s online store for those who commit to low-carbon transport options.
– Tour: this section provides information and tour details for fans looking to attend an upcoming show. Fans will get information on tour dates and venues, updates on ticket availability, and access to exclusive videos and images, with the ability to tag favorite shows and share concert information with friends.
– Planet: fans have the opportunity to learn about Coldplay’s sustainability efforts through interactive, environmental-themed games and find out about the band’s sustainability partners.
– Universe: To create a more engaging and unique in-app experience, SAP is leveraging augmented reality (AR) to bring fans closer to the Coldplay universe. Fans can place the dancing aliens from the “Higher Power” music video in their chosen setting to perform, and can create videos and take photos that can be shared on social media.
However, there is another more recent story related to inclusion and diversity that deserves to be told. In its latest update, accessibility options for blind people have been incorporated, something that has come at the request of a Mexican fan.
The SAP Academy for Engineering development team, together with three SAP employees who are also blind, got to work optimizing the accessibility features of the application. The team labeled things like screen buttons and image descriptions so screen readers could read the features and provide helpful tips to users. In addition, it restructured the app’s code to make navigation more suitable for blind users, since when using an app, blind people have to use gestures such as swiping or double-tapping.
“The Coldplay fan has been in close contact with the development team and volunteered to test the usability of the application and provide her feedback”, as Verzano explained to us.
At a technological level, three solutions and services have been used in the development of the Coldplay app for their world tour:
– SAP Business Technology Platform: The unified, business-focused platform that helps companies decide with confidence, act with integrity, connect processes, data, and experiences, and achieve continuous business innovation.
–SAP Analytics Cloud: An open cloud solution built for Software as a Service (SaaS) that enables organizations to drive agile decisions by combining analytics and planning to analyze, predict, and plan in a single offering.
– SAP Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises: A comprehensive cloud offering that integrates data and processes to manage your carbon footprint, reduce material waste, and achieve social sustainability through a single license, backed by the power and expertise of a global ecosystem.
Without a doubt, a great initiative from both parties, Coldplay and SAP. And also a great example of how technology can help any organization to be more environmentally sustainable.
