Patagonia Music

Patagonia, the California-based outdoor clothing company, has announced the launch of a new music initiative, and is partnering with like-minded musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Jack Johnson, and Zac Brown Band among others.

The new program is called Patagonia Music and will offer exclusive tracks through iTunes that will help support various environmental groups.

While Patagonia Music sounds a little like other brands’ forays into music – such as Starbuck’s Hear Music or Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound – the clothier insists it isn’t a record label.

In a press release, Patagonia states that their program will be “perpetually evolving” and the company hopes it will bring about a greater dialogue between environmentally-conscious fans and artists.

In the first volume, called Patagonia Music Collective, Vol. 1, Patagonia has put together a compilation including live versions of Bonnie Raitt and Jon Cleary’s “So Damn Good,” Zac Brown Band’s “Cold Hearted,” Jack Johnson’s “To The Sea,” as well new recordings by Ben Sollee, Abigail Washburn, and Blitzen Trapper. Each of the 11 tracks on the compilation are being sold through iTunes for 99 cents.

Each artist chooses a different environmental group to benefit. Zac Brown Band will benefit Urban Farming, while Johnson’s track will support the Kōkua Hawai’i Foundation.

With Volume 2 boasting tracks from Pearl Jam, Ziggy Marley, and Ra Ra Riot among others, Patagonia’s music initiative succeeds in bringing together a broad range of talented artists under one common cause.