WASHINGTON -- Many musicians have contributed to candidates in the 2008 presidential campaign, but one group of artists is taking political activism a step further by volunteering time, talent and money to register voters.

More than 100 artists and music industry pros have joined forces through HeadCount, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group formed in 2004 by high-school friends Andy Bernstein, executive director, and Marc Brownstein, co-chair and bassist for the Disco Biscuits, an improvisational electronic rock band.

The goal of the volunteer-only organization is to register voters at concerts given by artists partnering with HeadCount.

Some musicians, like Brownstein and the Disco Biscuits, limit their personal political contributions to HeadCount and other nonpartisan, not-for-profit groups.

There are, however, many performers who donate their own money to presidential candidates.

According to a Medill News Service analysis of campaign contribution data from the Federal Election Commission, most musicians, many affiliated with HeadCount, donated to Democratic candidates in this year’s presidential campaign.

Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and a member of HeadCount's board of directors, donated $2,120 to Barack Obama in 2008, and $250 to John Edwards in 2007.

Other top Obama givers involved with HeadCount include Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, who gave $5,350, Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band, who contributed $4,600 and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, who also gave $4,600. William “Will.i.am” Adams of the Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews and Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash all donated $2,300.

While Bonnie Raitt gave $1,500 to Obama, she earlier donated $2,300 to both Edwards and Dennis Kucinich.

Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls contributed $1,382 to Hillary Clinton.

Regardless of personal support of presidential candidates, the artists involved with HeadCount say they want their fans to be involved in the political process in a positive way.

“At HeadCount we don’t want to preach,” Brownstein said. “We want them to believe something. As citizens of the U.S. we have freedoms that other people [in other countries] don’t have.”

Bernstein said the driving force behind HeadCount came from the counterculture of the 1960s.

"Music and politics are inherently intertwined,” he said. “We feel that all you have to do is think about the great, great musicians of the modern era, whether [Bob] Dylan or the Beatles, and pretty quickly it'll conjure up images of expression and change and being a mouthpiece for a generation."

The group believes the modern live music community has significant potential to reach people and influence them to get involved as much as their parents’ generation did.

“When you’re in direct contact looking into the crowd and everyone’s staring at you, I think that there’s an emotional connection between you and the artist,” Brownstein said of his own experience of performing and interacting with audience members.

It is this connection that the musicians involved with HeadCount hope to harness in their efforts to reach unregistered voters, particularly those in the 18-29 year-old demographic.

"Musicians have a very, very strong connection with their fans,” Bernstein said. “HeadCount targets artists whose fan bases form communities," he said.

HeadCount has registered more than 60,000 voters since it began in 2004 and plans to register voters at 650 concerts in 2008, said Bernstein.

The median age of voters registered through HeadCount is 22, which is not surprising given that the average concert-goer is 24-years-old, according to the group.

HeadCount targets the youth vote because young people are "a key determining factor" in this year's election, Bernstein said.

"There's no doubt at all that Obama would not be the nominee if not for the youth vote," he said.

Although it is focused on registering  the young, HeadCount reaches out to voters of all ages and political persuasions. “We’re registering everyone,” Brownstein said. “Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, no matter how old you are.”

The group attracts a broad range of voters through the variety of artists it works with. In its early days, the performers involved with HeadCount came primarily from the tightly knit jam band community. These musicians take inspiration from the live performance culture that originated in the mid-1960s with the Grateful Dead and continued in the 1990s and today with bands like Phish.

Some of HeadCount’s earliest musical partners included Al Schnier, guitarist with the jam band moe., and Grateful Dead guitarist Weir.

Once Weir became involved with the effort, the organization was able to expand beyond the jam band community by attracting more mainstream artists, such as the Dave Matthews Band and Pearl Jam.

“Now when you talk to Phish and the Dave Matthews Band you have the weight of the Grateful Dead on your side,” Brownstein said. “That’s a powerful voice [in the] industry and an immensely powerful weight with fans.”

Volunteer teams travel on tour with the partner bands and set up booths at performances to register concert-goers. Their expenses are covered by donations from the participating artists.

In keeping with their nonpartisan stance, HeadCount organizers would like to hold events at both of the upcoming party conventions.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band are headlining at a HeadCount event in Denver, the site of the Democratic National Convention, which began on Monday, Aug. 25.

HeadCount hopes to plan an event during the Republican National Convention, which begins on Sept. 1 in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

"This isn't just about setting up a table," Bernstein said. "We're tapping into passion for music and trying to harness that toward positive ends and civic participation."