Postcards From Page Side: HeadCount – Onwards & Upwards
This week for Postcards From Page Side, I decided to focus on an issue close to all of us, whether we realize it or not: voter registration and the impact on not only our scene, but our world in general. HeadCount is a non-profit organization focused on registering voters at live concerts, amongst other things. Co-founder Andy Bernstein was gracious enough to take some time to chat with me about HeadCount’s first eight years as a non-profit and what lies ahead for the organization with the impending election year in 2012. “It’s been a very interesting few years for us. In a lot of ways, I’m more excited and honestly more proud of the work we are doing this year than any of the years that came before it,” says Bernstein. “We really wanted to take it to the next level in 2011 and 2012 and take action, by taking the momentum of the election and turning our community into a force.”
My conversation with Bernstein quickly turns to not only the past and present of HeadCount, but also most importantly, its future, namely the election year of 2012. And trust me, HeadCount has big plans. More than just sending teams on the road to register voters, they are all about having “fun” at the shows while educating the masses. “Going into this year we took a kind of different approach. Our goal this year was to really have fun with the community on a socially conscious level. That was everything that we feel the previous years had been calling for. We wanted to just strengthen our tie to the community on a pro-social level and that would take us back into the presidential year with a whole new position and ability to reach people and get the vote out.”
Bernstein continues to elaborate on certain, specific ways that HeadCount is continuing to reinvent themselves. “We have done three major things this year. The first is a survey called the Fan DNA Project that we are doing at shows asking about their musical tastes and political beliefs. We are going to compare different fan bases and different festivals [to find out] what do we all have in common? Where are we different? What do we believe in? It will help the bands understand their fanbase better and HeadCount understand the people we are trying to reach better.”
READ ON for more on HeadCount’s history and future plans…
I myself have been involved with HeadCount in a few capacities since late 2005, for which I am currently an Artist Relations rep, so I have some inside insight into what makes it tick, and believe me, it all starts with its heart and soul, Bernstein and fellow co-founder Marc Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits. Bernstein and Brownstein are attempting to build on registering over 100,000 voters in 2008. Along with the artist power of Brownstein, HeadCount has cultivated relationships with Dave Matthews, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, Trey Anastasio of Phish, Jack Johnson, filmed a PSA with Jay-Z and has been involved with seemingly everyone in between.
This ties in with another big, and perhaps the most visible and successful aspects of HeadCount’s methods of late – Signs of the Times. Bernstein explains, “At the shows, artists and fans take pictures at our photo booth with sayings like ‘BLANK inspires me’ and people write in whatever they feel with dry erase markers. To date, thousands of fans and over 50 artists have participated in it.” He concludes, “There is a point to this all, where we have momentum going into the Presidential election year.”
Overall, HeadCount is about making a difference. That is the very reason I signed up with them years ago. They want to help change not only the scene, but the world we live in. And judging by their current and future plans, are well on their way. Please make sure to check them out, register to vote if you are not or have moved recently, volunteer and most importantly, hit the polls, as this doesn’t work without our participation as well, even with HeadCount leading the way. “Next year we will be out doing the things we’ve done, just bigger and better, like sending teams out on the road with bands at well over 1,000 concerts. We will have more reach with digital media where we can partner with people. We just want to go out and speak to people. That’s what this is about. It’s about connecting with people one on one, but also as a community as a whole.” He finishes with a very simple, yet poignant sentiment that sums up HeadCount in a nutshell, “Our job is to start getting people thinking about this stuff and I think we’re in really good shape.”
From personal experience, I tend to agree and hope you all do too. Now, as I used to yell at shows in 2006: “Go out and vote!”
