Music as Environmental Advocacy: Constructing and Interpreting Environmental Discourse on Efek Rumah Kaca’s YouTube Channel

M. Agung Pramana; Dony Arung Triantoro

doi:10.12928/channel.v14i2.2119

Authors

M. Agung Pramana Universitas Islam Negeri Sultan Syarif Kasim
Dony Arung Triantoro Universitas Teuku Umar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12928/channel.v14i2.2119

Keywords:

Environmental advocacy, Environmental communication, Environmental discourse, Audience interpretation, Netnography

Abstract

Music provides a cultural medium through which environmental concerns can be articulated beyond conventional informational and advocacy-based communication. This study examines how Efek Rumah Kaca (ERK) constructs environmental discourse through music and how audiences interpret these meanings within the digital context of YouTube. Employing a netnographic approach, the study analyzes three music videos published on ERK’s YouTube channel, @efekrumahkacaofficial: “Efek Rumah Kaca,” “Hujan Jangan Marah,” and “Merdeka,” alongside 46 audience comments. The findings reveal that ERK articulates environmental discourse through interconnected ecological, social, and political narratives. “Efek Rumah Kaca” addresses global warming and the greenhouse effect, while “Hujan Jangan Marah” evokes environmental degradation and ecological vulnerability. Meanwhile, “Merdeka” connects environmental concerns with natural resource ownership, community resistance, and social justice. Audience comments further illustrate how these meanings are interpreted and extended through concerns about resource ownership, environmental inequality, and the commodification of nature. By examining musical and audiovisual representations alongside audience interpretations, this study highlights how music functions as a medium of environmental advocacy and how YouTube provides a digital context in which environmental discourse is communicated and interpreted. The study contributes to environmental communication and media studies by examining both the construction of environmental meanings through music and their interpretation by audiences.

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