CMJ, Spin Magazine, Virgin Mobile, and five other high-profile music industry companies have embarked on a three-month-long initiative with HeadCount, a non-partisan organization that uses music to inspire voter registration and participation in democracy. The "90-Day Voter Challenge" will focus on encouraging young people to register to vote in time for November's election. The participating companies (which also include eMusic, imeem, Music Today, SexyPolitics.com, and JamBase) are websites with heavy traffic that are highly connected to music. All participants have added a "Register To Vote" link to their websites, as well as other promotions, including encouraging PSAs and videos, discounts, and more. CMJ is set to make Public Service Announcements available to college and non-commercial radio stations, which will motivate unregistered listeners to visit HeadCount.org and register to vote. The initiative will run through October. In 2008, HeadCount has registered over 20,000 voters. Over the course of the next three months, HeadCount expects that number to reach 100,000. www.headcount.org
