How Stars Like Billie Eilish Are Turning Tours Into Tools for Change
The music industry is an inextricable part of Nashville’s DNA. It’s estimated that the industry supports 56,000 local jobs and contributes over $5 billion annually to the city’s economy. But beyond the economic benefits and upholding the Music City reputation, there’s a growing trend that may make Nashville’s musical nucleus more impactful than ever.
Music has always been a platform for social activism, from protest songs to benefit shows. In the post-pandemic ecosystem, there’s been a steady rise in mainstream pop artists — your arena headliners and household names — buoying their concert tours with charitable efforts. From Taylor Swift donating to food banks at each stop on her Eras Tour to Olivia Rodrigo championing local reproductive rights organizations in every city, the societal impact of touring is taking a new shape.
Most recently, alt-pop sensation Billie Eilish announced a number of sustainability and charitable efforts to be incorporated into her Hit Me Hard And Soft Tour. Fans who attended each show were presented with multiple opportunities to engage with causes their favorite artist chose. From introducing plant-based concessions and sustainably made merchandise for reduced water usage and carbon emissions, to offering reusable water bottles and accepting food drive donations, nearly every part of the concert experience was affected. Fan Kelsey Christine was in the audience that night, and she says the socio-political engagement was a big part of the show.
“When you’re sitting in your seats waiting for the show, there’s a five-minute long video that played,” says Christine.
“I was there early enough before the opener that I saw this video run through two separate times. It talks all about her sustainability environmental initiatives that she’s done on this tour and so I got very familiar with what those are even though I didn’t interact with them directly out in the venue lobby.”
You might doubt that audiences would care to listen to a drone of information before a concert, but with each new generation, it seems that fans have an increasing desire to be involved in socio-political issues and see their favorite artists do the same.
“In fangirl culture, you really look up to these people and you do listen to what they say, and I totally think it’s impacted me. It made me reconsider eating more plant-based food and I’ve never really thought about (sustainability) when it comes to fashion — of course, I know there’s a lot of issues with fast fashion and all of that kind of stuff, but I didn’t even know about the water usage thing. That kind of makes me think twice and it raises a lot of awareness about stuff that’s important for our planet because I do care about and worry about our planet but I don’t think I’m as educated about what’s causing a lot of those problems that we do every day, so she’s helped open my eyes to that.”
Other charitable organizations present included Support + Feed, a plant-based food equity organization founded by Eilish’s mother Maggie Baird, and Reverb Gives, a subset of the music retailer dedicated to providing music education.
With all of the publicity around the tour and its purported sustainable and charitable goals, there’s room to wonder whether a difference is actually being made. This is a valid concern – it’s commonplace for artists of all popularity levels to include some kind of initiative on their tours, like voter registration through Headcount or donation of a portion of ticket sales to a non-profit organization.
In the case of Eilish’s tour, there’s no report available for this year yet, but the singer’s website includes an impact report from her 2022 world tour. According to the report, fans raised $117,000 for local charities and climate organizations. They also estimate that the use of over 88,000 single-use plastic bottles was eliminated through the offering of reusable water bottles and filling stations for fans.
The transparency surrounding the charitable efforts may not be overly specific — no word on which organizations local to each show benefitted from the food drives or other fundraising — but there’s much more available for curious fans than is the norm. When Olivia Rodrigo swept through Nashville on her GUTS Tour in March, she announced that her Fund 4 Good would be donating to local reproductive justice organizations Abortion Care Tennessee and Mountain Access Brigade, but no information is available on how much was raised from the show.
One popular Nashville non-profit and donation recipient, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennesee, said that they have benefited from concerts such as Jason Isbell’s annual Ryman residency and the Get Behind the Mule Tom Waits Tribute show but were unable to provide any additional details. They also confirmed receiving a donation from Taylor Swift but did not mention whether this was in connection with the Eras Tour campaign.
How much do fans need to know about where the donations they’ve contributed to are going? Some may not care, but others may be compelled to further engagement upon learning the good they can do by simply attending a show. There’s also the issue of virtue signaling — are some artists performatively championing causes and encouraging fans to donate without a willingness to do the same? Despite the doubts that may arise, Kelsey Christine says that she’s focused on the outcome rather than the motive.
“At least with her, it doesn’t come across as performative to me because I really believe that she cares about this stuff. She’s been talking about it for years and years and it’s always been a priority for her. But even if I did think it was performative like from another artist or something, l’m almost like, ‘Who cares?’ As long as they’re advocating for something good and to protect our planet and encourage others to do the same, I kind of don’t give a shit about where it’s coming from. It’s almost like how I feel about the placebo effect — if it was the placebo effect, who cares, if it really worked.”