We live in a world where we regularly hear the word “data.” This encompasses deeply individual experiences including specifically curated algorithms tailored just for you or having your identity “stolen” due to hacked accounts. Data is also a term that can be incredibly broad and overwhelming. Whether a business meeting, schools, sports statistics, health and more - it often feels as a global society we both literally are data points while we’re simultaneously inundated with the word and concept of “data.”
But what does “data” actually mean and how can it improve opportunities for citizen participation and support building trust and resilience in our democracies? The United States has had low voter turnout from eligible voters, particularly for young people, throughout my lifetime. Can data help change this? I am a longtime music executive with a deep background throughout the industry, including relationships and an understanding of how the stakeholders in our industry’s ecosystem function and interact. Within the global music industry ecosystem, I have a particularly strong background in concerts and live events due to my years as a global tour manager, partner at entertainment firms and decades of mentorship from the global concert industry’s leaders.
This is why I realized that elections in our low-turnout United States’ democracy are often decided by the size of concert venues. So why don’t we fill them and tie in voting? We launched #iVoted Concerts and Festivals for the United States’ 2018 election and haven’t looked back since. The public enters #iVoted Concerts with a selfie from outside their polling place or at home with a blank and unmarked ballot. Future voters are engaged and enter by letting us know what election they will be 18 / eligible for and why they’re excited to vote. To ensure our events are both inclusive and in compliance, non-citizens and those ineligible to vote enter by sharing why they’re excited to attend the event.
We stand on the shoulders of giants, dating back to the 1960’s and earlier, of voting and culture. Yet when we built #iVoted Festival, the largest digital concert in history, which took place via webcast due to the pandemic on election night for the United States’ 2020 election, our team of music industry professionals did not book talent that we thought people might like. We literally booked the top trending artists in each location, per the data, based on what people were listening to (data is culled from Chartmetric based on the artists’ with the highest Spotify monthly listenership by location). In 2024, we’ve now taken the next step and optimized the data on the top trending artists in any location on Google Maps through my Visiting Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute. We compare the unique fan demographics of these artists by location with local voter files to determine which artists have the most historically low-turnout fans and therefore could make the largest civic impact. The results might be surprising. For example, although Taylor Swift has the most listeners in Atlanta, Georgia, Drake can increase civic impact in that market by 29% more than Taylor. Of course we want all talent and leaders to be encouraging civic participation. But when focusing resources to maximize impact, this shows how a targeted approach to data can lead the way.
Why music? Personally, the music industry is what I know and I encourage everyone to take their area of expertise and apply it to voting. But beyond that, what determines if someone votes is if their community votes. For many young people in particular, their fan and “stan” communities are as important as family, religious affiliation and the traditional drivers that often determine if someone votes. Also, young people who vote in the first few elections that they are eligible for are more likely to become lifelong voters. In the meantime, this method directly connects with voters by meeting them where they already are as Billboard magazine pointed out: “Young people in the U.S. are more likely to attend live music events (53% of teens and 63% millennials, Nielsen Music 360 report) than vote (35.6% for 18-29 and 48.8% for 30-44 in 2018, US Census).”
But why stop there and how can we scale these efforts to improve global meaningful participation in democracy both now and in the future? #iVoted Concerts are relatively new and in the past have taken place on election nights. We’re now expanding and working to produce data-driven #iVoted Concerts during early voting periods as well as partnering with voter registration organizations where the public can check their registration to enter if the event takes place prior to the early voting period. Again, music is just what I know. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be lighting up every sports, comedy, entertainment and community event globally that takes place on election nights, during early voting as well as throughout voter registration periods.
At the same time, when engaging with the impact of culture, it can be easy to get swayed by a glamorous “name” or high social media numbers. We live in a world of infinite content where in music alone over 120,000 new songs are released every day. Instead of getting lost in this sea of seemingly infinite choices, I encourage those focused on increasing citizen participation to pay attention to what people are listening to and engaging with by location. We are also planning to analyze the civic impact from entertainers, athletes and influencers beyond music as a new frontier to lower barriers in democracies. This can be done by creating targeted data-driven events and campaigns to deliver impact and therefore trust and resilience for both the short and long-term.
Democracy is an active and collective work in progress. We have much work to do to increase civic participation worldwide. The power of data and culture on voter turnout contributes to the ease and expansion of those who vote by connecting with audiences that we might not be able to get to with traditional means in our ever distracted “attention economy.” One way to hasten this impact is through collaboration. Music is an inherently collaborative industry which is an ethos the civic and non-profit space can learn a lot from to maximize impact and defines the OECD that has brought us all together. To increase civic impact on all that music touches, #iVoted Concerts is proud to be a founding member of the Music Votes coalition. The coalition provides a 3-step solution to solve voting issues, while tying-in optional yet crucial non-partisan causes for all that music touches. This is an example of the power of collaboration when targeted and tangible data is applied to voting and culture throughout global democracies.
2024 OECD Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy
This blog is part of a collection of opinion pieces that showcases diverse perspectives on the new frontiers of citizen participation, from thought leaders and practitioners across national and local government, academia, business, trade unions, and civil society. It offers insights and inspiration for discussions at the 2024 Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy, and future multidisciplinary work at the OECD.
The Global Forum takes place in Milan, Italy, 21-22 October 2024. Register to follow the discussions online: https://www.oecd-events.org/global-forum-on-democracy/en
This blog article should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its Member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the authors.
