INNOVATIVE ECO-SOUNDS MOVING BEYONG WIND AND STREAM SOUNDS, EARTHOLOGY RECORDS, A NEW DULUTH-BASED NONPROFIT, PRODUCES EARTH-FRIENDLY ORIGINAL POP MUSIC

Duluth News-Tribune

April 20, 2001 Friday FINAL EDITION

SECTION: THE WAVE; Pg. 03G

LENGTH: 602 words

HEADLINE:

BYLINE: V. Paul Virtucio, News Tribune staff writer

BODY:
He packages his CDs in reused cases and wraps them in nontoxic plastic. Then he ships them in envelopes made from recycled maps filled with dried leaves for padding.

Craig Minowa's business practices might be the most environmentally friendly in the music recording industry, but that doesn't mean his CDs are filled with sounds of a babbling brook or the wind blowing through trees.

Through his new nonprofit company called Earthology Records, the Duluth resident wants to present a variety of innovative music that can grab someone's attention and stir a concern for the environment.

Nature sounds have been overdone, said Minowa. Since 1992, he has worked to compile music and find artists who can push people's buttons.

"All these CDs are going to people who are in age brackets with still open minds and haven't been drilled down to wheels and cogs, like at 45," said the 28-year-old Minowa. "Either we start a revolution or we're not going to go much longer."

Minowa is promoting his label by releasing the first of eight CDs during Earth Day festivities. Cloud Cult's "Who Killed Puck?" offers a pop-like, electronica collection of tunes about the life of "Puck," a nature-loving person who is killed -- either physically or emotionally -- by society's crass consumerism mentality.

Other albums include one by Fable, a Minneapolis band, and another by harpist Laura Connely that is blended with nature sounds. Minowa also recorded an instrumental album with soothing tunes that he wrote after researching certain musical tones that could calm colicky babies.

Minowa plans to release one album every four to six weeks and hopes to have them distributed to music stores. Earthology Records is a nonprofit subsidiary of the Environmental Association for Great Lakes Education, where Minowa has been an education coordinator for two years.

Jan Conley, the organization's founder and executive director, said the partnership with Earthology Records is a good fit.

"You reach different people different ways. Some people you reach through brochures, some people you reach through speeches," Conley said. "Some of the real popular music groups are starting to get into the environmental message. I think it's because it reaches people."

What sets Earthology Records apart from other record labels is that Minowa will donate all of his profits to environmental charities and organizations. He pays musicians a negotiated flat fee for exclusive rights to their recorded album. He plans to direct CD royalties entirely to environmental causes.

Royalties from "Who Killed Puck?" will go to Adbusters, a Vancouver-based organization of artists and activists protesting what they perceive to be commercial encroachments on people's physical and cultural environments.

How much money reaches a charity is mostly affected by the way a CD is sold, Minowa said. If Minowa sells a $12 CD directly to a customer, he can donate $9. If it's sold through a record store chain, as little as $1.50 would go to a charity because of the size of the store's cut.

Earthology Records' list of musicians includes mostly new or relatively small-market musicians looking to expand their exposure beyond the local club scene. But Minowa has rejected musicians who just paid lip service to the company's environmental ideals because they simply wanted to cut a CD.

"It's just to highlight and find those great musicians who are starving to death as it is, but want to do something good," Minowa said.

V. Paul Virtucio3 can be reached at (218) 279-5536 or by e-mail: pvirtuci@duluthnews.com.

NOTES: WHERE TO GET THE CDS
Earthology Records sells its first CD release, "Who Killed Puck?" by Cloud Cult, and distributes information on future releases at these events:
*11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday during the Whole Foods Co-op Earth Day Fair in the Farmers Market at 14th Avenue East and Third Street
*1 p.m. Sunday at the Green Mercantile's 5K Earth Day Walk, starting in Lake Place Park on Superior Street between East Second and Third streets
*9 a.m. April 28 during the West Skyline Planning and Preservation Alliance's Citywide Cleanup at the Magney Park entrance on Skyline Parkway in Midway Township.
For more information, call 726-1828.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Rick Scibelli, News Tribune;
1. Craig Minowa works a table to promote his new record label during Wednesday's Earth Day activities in the Kirby Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Earthology Records is a Duluth-based non-profit that is releasing its first CD. Minowa also works as education coordinator for the Environmental Association for Great Lakes Education.
2. Earthology Records, a new Duluth-based non-profit record company, plans to release eight CDs this year, including the album "Earthology, Music For the Revolution." Minowa's goal is to produce high-quality, innovative pop music using environmentally safe business practices. All profits from his CD sales will be donated to environmental organizations.