In 146 days, Americans will head to the polls to decide the next president and vote on countless other national and local races and initiatives. Now, several music nonprofits are trying to make the industry's presence felt on Nov. 5 by launching a new voter turnout coalition, Music Votes.
Made up of not-for-profit organizations from across the industry, the platform aims to increase voter participation by ensuring that those in the industry, along with music fans, who are registered to vote, have the correct form of ID required to vote and show up to vote in person or by MAIL.
Developed and led by the Music Sustainability Alliance — the group behind the first Music Sustainability Summit held earlier this year — Music Votes is designed to be an easy and scalable program for artists, music companies, venues and record stores.
Getting involved with Music Votes can range from a simple task, such as posting voter registration links on social channels or websites, to more involved projects, such as helping artists and bands their fans and employees to verify identity them or collaborate with election night concerts produced by the non-profit organization #vote. Music Votes will also provide resources for nonpartisan information on topics such as climate change, disability culture, LGBTQ rights, and racial and reproductive justice.
The initiative will also provide data on where any given artist has the most political impact in an effort to help artists and their groups determine where their efforts will be most useful — a component developed in collaboration with the SNF Agora Institute of Johns Hopkins University.
Music Votes' 20 coalition partners include #iVoted Concerts, which produces data-driven concerts on election night that anyone can attend by showing a selfie taken outside their polling station or at home with a blank and no ballot. Black voters matter. the Environmental Voter Project; the Hip Hop Caucus; REVERB? Rock The Vote? Support + Supply. The music declares an emergency. and the Allied Alliance.
Music Votes was launched after a group of industry professionals “came together to support each other's efforts with a focus on simplifying and streamlining how the music industry at large can have the greatest impact in this high-stakes election ,” said the MSA board member. Kurt Langer in a statement. “Music Votes is the result, and we're calling on the entire industry to join our non-partisan coalition.”
More information is available on the Music Votes website.
