HeadCount
Corporate brand
UnclaimedHeadCount is a U.S. nonpartisan nonprofit that uses music, culture, and community partnerships to expand voter registration and civic participation.
Last updated November 4, 2026
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Overview
HeadCount is an American nonpartisan nonprofit organization focused on voter registration, voter-information access, and broader participation in democratic life. It was founded in 2004 by Marc Brownstein, bassist of the electronic rock group The Disco Biscuits, and Andy Bernstein, an author associated with the Phish community. From the beginning, the organization used the social infrastructure of live music as an organizing channel: trained volunteers established information and registration tables at concerts, festivals, and other cultural gatherings, where attendees could register to vote and learn about elections and civic issues. The concert-based model became the defining feature of HeadCount. Rather than relying primarily on a large permanent field staff, the organization developed volunteer teams in major U.S. cities. Local team leaders coordinate event operations, while volunteers staff tables and engage audiences. This structure has allowed HeadCount to operate across a large geographic area and to appear at hundreds of events in a typical year, including concerts, music festivals, sporting events, and community programs. The organization has described its work as nonpartisan: its role is to facilitate participation and provide election information rather than endorse candidates or parties. HeadCount’s reach expanded through relationships with musicians, entertainers, brands, media companies, and other nonprofits. Its public-facing work has included voter-registration drives, get-out-the-vote campaigns, public-service announcements, online registration tools, artist-led promotions, and festival-based civic-activation spaces. The organization has worked with artists and cultural figures including Jay-Z, Dave Matthews, Bob Weir, Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Tinashe, Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, and others, according to the cited reference material. These partnerships have helped move the organization beyond physical registration tables into social media, streaming platforms, digital campaigns, and incentive-based programs. HeadCount is also associated with National Voter Registration Day, which it helped establish and promotes through recurring campaigns involving musicians and entertainers. Its Participation Row program created activism villages at selected festivals, bringing together nonprofit groups, artists, audiences, and fundraising activities. Other initiatives have included the #SoundOff platform for civic communication with members of Congress, election-related work with Spotify, campaigns with Ben & Jerry’s and American Eagle Outfitters, and registration efforts connected to March for Our Lives and college-town outreach. The organization’s activity has remained especially visible during presidential and midterm election cycles. Reference material states that HeadCount registered roughly 400,000 voters during the 2020 election cycle and more than 150,000 in the run-up to the 2022 midterms, with substantial contributions from artist and brand partnerships. Ahead of the 2024 election, HeadCount merged with I Am a Voter, a civic-engagement organization founded in 2018. The combined organization’s early post-merger effort included Register a Friend Day, while partnerships with The Daily Show and Sabrina Carpenter supported additional registration and voter-information activity. The cited material credits Sabrina Carpenter’s 2024 partnership with registering 35,814 voters and prompting more than 263,000 people to check registration or polling information. HeadCount is therefore best understood not as a conventional commercial product brand, but as a cultural-engagement and civic-participation platform. Its distinctive positioning combines the credibility and reach of musicians with practical election services, using entertainment venues and fan communities as entry points to democratic participation. The organization’s governance has included Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir, co-founder Marc Brownstein, and Peter Shapiro, who became board chair in 2019. Andy Bernstein stepped down as executive director in 2023, and Lucille Wenegieme is identified in the supplied reference material as the organization’s executive director.
History
HeadCount emerged in 2004 from the overlap between American music culture and civic organizing. Marc Brownstein, a musician with The Disco Biscuits, and Andy Bernstein, an author connected to the Phish community, co-founded the organization with the goal of making voter registration accessible in places where music fans already gathered. The initial approach was straightforward: place trained volunteers at concerts, provide nonpartisan election information, and help eligible attendees register. The organization gradually developed a national volunteer network. Local teams generally included a trained leader and additional volunteers who coordinated event logistics, staffed tables, and communicated with audiences. This model enabled HeadCount to operate at a substantial number of concerts and festivals without building a conventional nationwide office-based field organization. Its work expanded beyond concerts to sporting events, community gatherings, college settings, bookstores, and online platforms. Artist relationships became central to HeadCount’s identity and reach. Musicians and entertainers promoted voter registration through public-service announcements, social posts, live appearances, and fan incentives. High-profile activity included announcements involving Jay-Z and Dave Matthews, collaborations connected to Bob Weir and the Grateful Dead community, and a compilation project involving Pearl Jam, Wilco, and Phish. By the mid-2010s, the organization reported support from hundreds of artists and celebrities, helping it connect election information with established fan communities. HeadCount also became associated with National Voter Registration Day, supporting large annual social-media activations in which entertainers encouraged followers to register through online tools. Its work increasingly combined physical and digital channels. The #SoundOff initiative encouraged people to communicate directly with members of Congress, while a 2012 webcast project, The Bridge Session, paired a live performance from Bob Weir’s TRI Studios with a political discussion. The organization also ran Capitol Community programming connected with the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, including educational opportunities for teachers. Festival programming developed into another important area. Through Participation Row, HeadCount organized activism villages at events including Lockn', True Music, Phases of the Moon, FloydFest, Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, Travelers Rest Festival, and the Newport Folk and Newport Jazz festivals. These spaces gave attendees access to nonprofit organizations and civic information. Silent auctions of signed or artist-associated merchandise generated support for participating causes. The program also connected HeadCount with environmental and cultural partners, including REVERB during Dead & Company’s 2023 Final Tour. Election cycles brought increasing scale and experimentation. In 2016, HeadCount worked with Spotify on an election-information campaign and partnered with Ben & Jerry’s during a Phish tour to offer ice cream to fans who registered or pledged to vote. In 2018, The Future Is Voting included a tour through college towns, while HeadCount supported voter registration at March for Our Lives and collaborated with Penguin Random House in bookstores. The 2020 election presented a major operational challenge because the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the concerts and festivals that had traditionally supplied HeadCount’s main field venues. The organization responded by emphasizing digital partnerships and artist-led promotions. Work involving Ariana Grande, Spotify, David Dobrik, American Eagle Outfitters, and other partners helped maintain voter-registration momentum. The reference material reports approximately 400,000 registrations during that election cycle. HeadCount continued to use musicians and popular culture during the 2022 midterms. Harry Styles contributed to a campaign credited with approximately 54,000 registrations, while Billie Eilish, Tinashe, Lizzo, and other partners helped the organization exceed 150,000 registrations overall. Ahead of the 2024 election, HeadCount merged with I Am a Voter. The combined organization used partnerships with The Daily Show and Sabrina Carpenter, among others, to reach new audiences. The supplied reference credits Carpenter’s campaign with 35,814 registrations and more than 263,000 additional registration or polling-location checks. Governance has evolved alongside the organization’s growth. Board leadership has included Bob Weir, co-founder Marc Brownstein, and Peter Shapiro, who was identified as board chair in 2019. Andy Bernstein stepped down as executive director in 2023, and Lucille Wenegieme is identified as the current executive director in the supplied reference material. HeadCount’s historical significance lies in its distinctive method: it makes voter registration part of the live-music and entertainment experience while maintaining a nonpartisan institutional identity.
- 2024
Merger with I Am a Voter
[1]HeadCount merges with I Am a Voter and begins post-merger voter-registration activity, including Register a Friend Day.
- 2023
Andy Bernstein leaves executive-director role
[1]Co-founder Andy Bernstein steps down as executive director.
- 2020
Digital expansion during the pandemic
[1]HeadCount shifts substantial activity online as COVID-19 limits concerts and festivals, reporting roughly 400,000 registrations during the election cycle.
- 2018
The Future Is Voting campaign
[1]HeadCount launches a college-town get-out-the-vote tour and supports registration connected with March for Our Lives.
- 2016
Spotify voter-information partnership
[1]HeadCount works with Spotify to direct U.S. listeners toward election and voter information.
- 2013
Participation Row expands
[1]HeadCount develops festival activism villages that combine nonprofit outreach, artist participation, and fundraising auctions.
- 2012
The Bridge Session webcast
[1]HeadCount conceives and produces a live performance and political discussion from Bob Weir’s TRI Studios, webcast through Yahoo!
- 2004
HeadCount is founded
[1]Marc Brownstein and Andy Bernstein establish HeadCount to promote voter registration through concerts and music communities.
Products and positioning
A nonpartisan civic-engagement organization that turns music fandom, live events, and entertainment partnerships into channels for voter registration and democratic participation.
Civic service · 2004
Concert and festival voter registration
HeadCount’s core service places trained volunteers at concerts, festivals, sporting events, and community gatherings. Volunteers help eligible participants register to vote and provide practical information about elections and polling. The model makes registration available in informal cultural settings rather than requiring audiences to seek out a government or advocacy office.
Campaign platform
National Voter Registration Day
HeadCount is identified as a founder of National Voter Registration Day and supports recurring national social-media activity around the observance. Musicians and entertainers use posts, images, and links to encourage audiences to register or verify their information through online tools.
Festival program · 2013
Participation Row
Participation Row is a festival-based activism format managed by HeadCount. It creates a shared space for nonprofit organizations, artists, and attendees, often adding silent auctions of signed merchandise to raise money for participating causes. The program has appeared at a range of U.S. music festivals.
Digital civic platform
#SoundOff
#SoundOff was developed as an online platform that encouraged users to communicate directly with members of Congress through social media. It extended HeadCount’s work from registration into ongoing civic expression and contact with elected representatives.
Marketing campaigns
- 2024Register a Friend Day
United States
Following the merger with I Am a Voter, HeadCount participated in Register a Friend Day to encourage people to help others register.
Outcome. Established an early public-facing initiative for the combined organization.
- 2024Sabrina Carpenter voter-registration partnership
United States
Sabrina Carpenter worked with HeadCount to reach music fans before the 2024 election.
Outcome. The supplied reference credits the campaign with 35,814 registrations and more than 263,000 registration or polling-location checks.
- 2022Artist-led midterm registration campaign
United States
Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Tinashe, Lizzo, and other artists supported HeadCount’s midterm voter-registration work.
Outcome. The supplied reference credits the Harry Styles partnership with approximately 54,000 registrations and reports more than 150,000 registrations overall.
- 20202020 election digital registration drive
United States
HeadCount worked with Ariana Grande, Spotify, David Dobrik, American Eagle Outfitters, and other partners to maintain registration activity while the pandemic reduced live events.
Outcome. The supplied reference reports roughly 400,000 registrations during the cycle.
- 2018The Future Is Voting
United States
A get-out-the-vote tour focused on college towns during the 2018 midterm cycle.
Outcome. Extended HeadCount’s in-person organizing beyond festival settings.
- 2018March for Our Lives voter registration
United States
HeadCount managed voter-registration efforts for March for Our Lives, the student-led organization formed after the Parkland school shooting.
Outcome. Connected HeadCount’s registration infrastructure with a large youth-led civic movement.
- 2016Spotify voter-information campaign
United States
HeadCount and Spotify used the streaming service to direct American listeners to voter information, including a message from President Barack Obama.
Outcome. Expanded HeadCount’s reach through a major digital music platform.
Brand decisions
2024
Merger with I Am a VoterM&ABackground
Both organizations worked to increase voter registration and civic participation, with I Am a Voter having been founded in 2018.
Action taken
HeadCount merged with I Am a Voter ahead of the 2024 election.
Aftermath
The combined organization promoted Register a Friend Day and continued artist- and media-led registration activity.
2020
Shift toward digital voter registration during COVID-19StrategyBackground
The pandemic disrupted concerts and festivals, HeadCount’s traditional operating environment.
Action taken
The organization increased reliance on online tools, entertainment partnerships, social promotions, and incentive-based campaigns.
Aftermath
The supplied reference reports roughly 400,000 voter registrations during the 2020 election cycle.
Recent events
Reported
Tony's Chocolonely turns Chocotruck into voter registration hub[3]
During the March on Washington on August 28, volunteers from HeadCount and Tony's Chocolonely, with help from Favored Nations, sought to register voters; Tony's Chocolonely's Chocotruck served as a voter registration hub.
Sources3 sources
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