Face the Music is a group dedicated to using musical artists to promote various left-of-center causes, particularly voter mobilization. The group claims its aim is to use music and creative action to “lead creative artists toward activism in music and across the arts.” The organization has hosted performances with about 70 “social justice artists” across the United States and Canada. Since launching in 2020, the group has raised about $50,000. ¹

Background

Founded in 2020 by singer and activist Pete Kronowitt, Face the Music Collective uses musical performances to advance “social justice causes,” particularly voter mobilization. According to Kronowitt’s LinkedIn page, the group has raised about $50,000 for “grassroots organizations and campaigns.” ²

Policy Positions

Face the Music focuses on various “social justice” causes through musical artists and putting on concerts to promote its views on issues. The group is particularly focused on voting, noting that “more than 100 million people who were eligible, didn’t vote in the US 2016 presidential election. Too often, people don’t understand how politics affects their lives, or if they do, they feel they are either too busy or too powerless, to make a difference.” ³

On January 5, 2023, the group wrote on their Facebook page that “tomorrow is the anniversary for the coup attempt on our country.” In the post, the organization encouraged people to write to their representatives to strengthen the Office of Congressional Ethics. ⁴

Funding

Face the Music Collective is a member of the Declaration for American Democracy, a coalition of left-leaning activist groups that advocates for a series of governmental and electoral administration policy changes. The main priorities of the coalition are to support federal legislation that would enact several left-leaning policy priorities regarding elections including automatic voter registration and restrictive regulations on political campaign-related speech acts. The organization is a project of Public Citizen Foundation, a left of center advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader. ⁵

Declaration for American Democracy advocates for bills in Congress and publicly promotes the need for left-leaning campaign and electoral administration policies. In May 2020, the organization sent an open letter to all 2020 presidential candidates urging them to adopt the coalition’s positions as part of their campaign platform and as policy priorities if elected. The coalition also launched a presidential candidate tracker to assess where each candidate stood on over 90 various policy issues. ⁶ Left-wing Democratic primary candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was listed as in support of the most of the policy positions on the Declaration for American Democracy’s platform. ⁷

People

Face the Music Collective was founded by singer Pete Kronowitt, who is based in San Francisco, California. Kronowitt’s Linkedin identifies him as “continuing work as a musician, songwriter and activist for progressive causes.” He released a song called “Roly Poly” to “celebrate Earth Day” and “take action to fight climate change.” ⁸ He has worked as a district captain for the Sister District project that focuses on organizing volunteers for Democratic legislative races and works to “dismantle structural racism” and advocating for abortion access. ⁹

1. “Pete Kronowitt.”  LinkedIn. Accessed February 1, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/petekronowitt/
2. “Pete Kronowitt.”  LinkedIn. Accessed February 1, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/petekronowitt/
3. “About.” Declaration for American Democracy. Accessed January 31, 2023. https://declarationforamericandemocracy.org/about/
4. “Face the Music.” January 5, 2023. Accessed January 31, 2023. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/FacetheMusicCollective/
5. “About.” Declaration for American Democracy. Accessed January 31, 2023. https://declarationforamericandemocracy.org/about/
6. “The Positions.” Democracy Platform 2020. Accessed January 31, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20200926055422/https://democracyplatform2020.org/the-positions/
7. “The Positions.” Democracy Platform 2020. Accessed January 31, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20200926055422/https://democracyplatform2020.org/the-positions/
8. “Pete Kronowitt.”  LinkedIn. Accessed February 1, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/petekronowitt/
9. ^[1] “Sister District Project: About Us.” https://sisterdistrict.com/about-us/