Music for Democracy: Be The Change (Updated)

Update: I've heard from someone involved in this project that the calls will indeed be pro-Obama, and that there will likely be a down-ballot message delivered as well. Participating artists are also going to use the text message reminders I mentioned in this post. Good stuff.
--------------------------

Music for Democracy recently launched a widgetized GOTV campaign, called Be the Change. Here's the widget:


The idea is this - recruited musicians agree to record a GOTV message, as well as make a few live calls on election day. They then seed the program to their fan base by posting the widget on their website/Myspace page, emailing their list, posting on message boards, etc. Fans of those artists then sign up to receive a reminder to vote on election day, and theoretically continue to spread the word virally by posting the widget to their own blogs/social networking pages, and potentially in other music forums.

It's an interesting concept and I have no idea how effective it will be. We know that text message reminders on election day can bump turnout by 4.6 percentage points. But we also know that robocalls are the least effective way of reaching young people. That might be alleviated by the fact that users are opting in to receive these messages, and the messenger will be a respected figure with whom the recipient has some connection (however tangentially in the form of fandom). However, that also makes me wonder about selection bias. Are the people opting in the types of people who were already going to vote, or is this actually going to convince someone who would have stayed home to go to the polls?

The other question I have about the project has to do with scripts for the artist. Will the artist deliver a pro-Obama message or a non-partisan message? Will the script discuss the importance of voting down ballot? Democracy Corps is estimating that down-ballot drop-off could be quite high among young voters. If the Music for Democracy tool could cut down that rate, that would indeed be useful.

I'm not sure if MfD is testing the effectiveness of the tool, but I hope they are. This would all be good data to have.