June 14, 2007

By By Todd Martens, L.A.

There wasn't a CD manufacturing operation in the entire country that satisfied the eco-friendly needs of Cloud Cult leader Craig Minowa. So he built his own.

Minowa started Earthology Recordings on a farm an hour north of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. From the geothermal and wind power that runs the farm, to the recycled CD cases with soy ink-engraved packaging that come with every order, Earthology is striving to become the most environmentally aware CD manufacturing/replication business on the planet.

So it's no surprise that in his downtime from touring with his critically adored psych-pop outfit, Minowa fields calls from unsigned artists and indie and major labels. Often, Minowa says, there's only one factor that stops an act or a business from going the green route.

"Unfortunately, it does come down to a financial thing," he says. "If the eco-friendly stuff is 3-5 cents more per unit, most of the major labels will shy away from it, since those pennies add up. If it were affordable to do it the environmentally friendly way, then everyone would be doing it."

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