sounds right fund
the ‘Sounds Right’ initiative launches nature as an official artist.
the greatest musician of all time will finally be paid for her work.
EarthPercent is a founding partner of Sounds Right, an initiative by the Museum for the United Nations – UN Live, developed and delivered in close partnership with musicians, creatives, and nature sound recordists, as well as environmental, campaigning and global advocacy organisations.
What is Sounds Right?
Sounds Right is a global music initiative recognising the value of nature and allowing NATURE to generate royalties from her music.
The goal is to activate fans, raise funds, spark a global conversation about how we value nature, and not least inspire a sense of urgency and agency in our collective efforts to protect the planet.
Streaming one of the Feat. NATURE tracks is a simple iconic action everybody can take to generate royalties for high-impact conservation projects, while incurring no additional cost to themselves.
The greatest musician of all time has never been paid
that’s all about to change.
Via the Sounds Right initiative, 50% of recording royalties from tracks by global artists that ‘Feat. Nature’ will be donated to biodiversity conservation and restoration projects along with 63% of recording royalties from ambient nature tracks.
NATURE’s royalties and donations will be collected by EarthPercent and distributed to rights-based nature conservation and restoration projects in the world’s most precious and precarious ecosystems under the guidance of the Sounds Right Expert Advisory Panel.
how and what we fund
Our Sounds Right Expert Advisory Panel is a group of world-leading biologists, environmental activists, Indigenous People’s representatives, and experts in conservation funding.
The panel will consider projects with proven models of ecological and community impact, robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and delivered by organisations with the right capabilities.
Projects in ecosystems with the highest levels of biodiversity and endemism will be prioritised, with initial analysis identifying Key Biodiversity Areas in the following regions: Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands; Indo-Burma, India, and Myanmar; Sundaland; Philippines; Tropical Andes; and, the Atlantic Forest.
90% of all NATURE’s revenue (music royalties and institutional donations) go to conservation. While the vast majority of programme costs are covered by philanthropic grants, 10% of NATURE's revenue (excluding individual donations) is retained to cover core Sounds Right programme costs and music production support, to ensure the long-term sustainability of the programme.
The fund has piloted funding to conservation projects in Colombia, totalling $225,000 over 2 years. Following learnings from the pilot, the Expert Advisory Panel and Sounds Right partners will communicate criteria for 2025 applications.
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Kavita Prakash-Mani - Chair
Founder of multiple Asia-based nature conservation organizations; served strategic advisor to WWF and AsiaGrow.
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Mindahi Bastida
Director of Original Nations Program; Expert on biodiversity, Indigenous knowledge and related topics; UNESCO consultant on sacred sites and bioculture.
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Dr. Shivani Bhalla
Award winning conservation scientist protecting 4,500km2 with Samburu community in Kenya; developed an open source framework on community driven decision making.
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David Emmett
Conservation scientist, head biodiversity conservation partnerships at Hempel Foundation, and conservation impact investment advisor.
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Professor Julia P. G. Jones
Conservation scientist specializing in impact evaluation for equitable and inclusive conservation.
About Sounds Right:
Sounds Right is an initiative by Museum for the United Nations – UN Live developed and delivered in close partnership with musicians, creatives, nature sound recordists, conservationists, and campaigning organisations. Sounds Right, developed in consultation with the United Nations Department of Global Communications, along with founding partners: Earth Percent, The Listening Planet, VozTerra, Earthrise, Hempel Foundation, Community Arts Network, Dawn Chorus, LD Communications, Dalberg, Axum, Music Declares Emergency, Limbo Music, Count Us In, AKQA, LD Communications and Rare. Spotify is supporting Sounds Right's global launch through access to its extensive platform in support of nature conservation. Sounds Right is also joining forces with The Nature Conservancy and Wildlife Conservation Society to encourage millions of music fans around the globe to recognise the value of nature and to inspire them to take action.
