100 factors to examine your voter registration. One other 1,500 factors to develop into a month-to-month donor with the Human Rights Marketing campaign. Pledging to vote for pro-choice candidates? That’ll earn you 25.
What are all of them for? The coveted likelihood to satisfy the Midwest Princess herself: Chappell Roan.
Through the campy pop star’s meteoric rise to fame prior to now few months, she’s made headlines for record-breaking crowd sizes, talking out towards fan harassment, and making her presence often called a beacon of hope for LGBTQ+ youth in a few of the most unwelcoming locations.
The followers registered on Propeller — a web-based, gamified platform that helps performing artists have interaction followers in social points — are essentially the most within the relationship between Roan’s artwork and activism.
They usually’re breaking some information of their very own.
On Propeller, the unofficial members of the “Pink Pony Membership,” earn a degree foreign money by taking motion for the causes Roan cares about, like safeguarding reproductive rights, serving to individuals register to vote, and increasing LGBTQ+ rights nationwide.
These actions embrace issues like donating to charities, watching informative movies about sure subjects, sharing calls to motion on social media, signing petitions, and extra — every assigned a sure level worth.
The extra actions followers take, the extra factors they earn, and the extra they’ll change them for prizes like unique merch, donations for aligned nonprofits, probabilities to win tickets to see Roan in live performance, or a chance to satisfy her backstage.
Again in 2023, Annie Flook, the pinnacle of artist partnerships and enterprise improvement at Propeller, heard from one other buddy within the music trade who was working with Roan’s workforce.
“They mentioned, ‘You really want to concentrate to this lady. She’s out on the highway. Merch is promoting like loopy. She stands up for what she believes in and she or he’s outspoken. She’s good for Propeller,’” Flook instructed Good Good Good.
And she or he was.
Previous to Roan’s meteoric rise — which adopted her personal headlining tour, opening for Olivia Rodrigo, and a lot of catchy singles that took TikTok by storm — she was already utilizing her concert events to do good.
At each present on her headlining tour, she welcomes a handful of native drag performers on stage — and followers have been inspired to Venmo performers immediately, or donate funds to organizations like The Glo Heart, For The Gworls, or The Trevor Undertaking. This 12 months, Roan additionally collected hand-made friendship bracelets from followers and offered them at merch tables, with all proceeds going to help aid in Gaza.
She nonetheless touts these smaller, self-managed tasks, however Propeller has leveraged her star energy for larger operations.
How Chappell Roan followers raised 1000’s on the behest of their fave
First, the platform ran a marketing campaign for followers to win a VIP expertise at a headlining present in Boulder, Colorado final fall.
After they realized how simple that was — for an on-the-rise artist to provide just some minutes of their time in change for large social impression — they “rinsed and repeated,” as Flook calls it, providing an analogous VIP expertise for followers attending Bonnaroo in the summertime of 2024.
By that time, Roan grew to become a staple within the cultural zeitgeist.
“[Chappel] took our Bonnaroo marketing campaign and simply threw it into the stratosphere,” Flook mentioned. “It grew to become our largest marketing campaign on Propeller ever… at that time.”
Quickly, Roan was beating her personal engagement information on Propeller, with followers exhibiting up with the identical fervor for future campaigns that embrace a grand prize of assembly Roan at festivals like Exterior Lands and Austin Metropolis Limits.
As of the writing of this text, all of Roan’s Propeller campaigns have resulted in over $160,000 generated for the Human Rights Marketing campaign and Reproductive Freedom For All.
These funds come from greater than 150,700 supporters, who’ve taken over 223,000 “actions” on the Propeller platform.
Contemplating the “HOT TO GO!” singer’s Lollapalooza crowd culminated in a file daytime turnout of 110,000 attendees, Propeller’s numbers symbolize a large chunk of her rising fan base.
“Each new fan that finds her is immediately a brilliant fan and is immediately tremendous engaged,” Flook mentioned. “It simply speaks to the kind of fan base that she’s rising and connecting with; these followers that genuinely care about these challenge areas.”
Flook noticed this first-hand when she went to Bonnaroo to facilitate meet-and-greets hosted by the platform earlier this 12 months.
“She provides a lot of her time and is so real together with her followers,” Flook mentioned. “When she got here out to do the meet-and-greet, the very first thing she requested my coworker was ‘How a lot cash did we increase? How a lot impression did we create?’ That doesn’t at all times occur.”
The followers — clearly grateful for the mere likelihood at a second with the red-haired renegade — are moved by the impression, too.
“Propeller really made a dream come true by permitting me to satisfy one in every of my high favourite artists,” Jonathan, the fan who met Roan at Bonnaroo, mentioned. “They usually do it by additionally making nice change in our world!”
The brand new period of fan-driven activism
Flook acknowledged that Propeller is an entry-level strategy to activism, serving to introduce followers to on-the-ground organizations which might be placing within the work in terms of the problems individuals care most about.
“You don’t must be an professional on this sure trigger as a result of Propeller’s not the professional both,” she mentioned. “However Human Rights Marketing campaign is. Headcount is. So, if we are able to join these dots and get these followers directed over there — even when they have been getting linked as a result of they needed to win a prize — we’re nonetheless getting them concerned with trigger.”
After these followers enter the databases of these main nonprofits or activism organizations, the fundraising companions get to run with it, strategizing methods to preserve their newfound viewers to make a distinction.
“Partnering with Chappell Roan by way of Propeller has been extremely impactful in our struggle for LGBTQ+ rights,” Dane Grams, the vp of membership on the Human Rights Marketing campaign, instructed Good Good Good.
“Her assist has not solely impressed numerous supporters to take motion, however it has additionally helped us attain a youthful viewers and safe 2,500 new month-to-month donors. This has been important in driving significant change and defending the rights of all people.”
Funds raised on Propeller additionally profit Reproductive Freedom For All, which has spent over 50 years advocating for abortion rights, entry to contraception, parental depart insurance policies, and being pregnant protections.
In the case of Roan’s personal bodily autonomy, these campaigns have a spot within the dialog, as effectively. It’s clear the impression of her fundraising work is main for organizers and beneficiaries alike, however the format of Propeller makes it extra accessible for Roan to proceed advocacy work with out burning out or being uncovered to unsafe interactions.
Just lately, Roan herself took to social media to set some clear boundaries as her profession catapults.
“Please don’t assume you understand so much about somebody’s life, persona, and limits since you are conversant in them or their work on-line,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I embrace the success of the venture, the love I really feel, and the gratitude I’ve. What I don’t settle for are creepy individuals, being touched, and being adopted… I’m not afraid of the implications for demanding respect.”
When Propeller organizes fan meet-and-greets, they can vet their winners and meet with them earlier than facilitating the interplay with artists, Flook mentioned, which supplies a protected and interesting expertise for all events concerned.
“Propeller makes it quite simple for her to do some good whereas she’s on this meteoric rise,” Flook mentioned. “We all know that she’s being pulled in a thousand totally different instructions.”
Including to the workforce of people that assist the world’s most beloved celebrities, Propeller permits artists to prioritize social change of their schedules — and never on the expense of their very own psychological well being.
“Working with Propeller has been seamless and extremely rewarding. The platform creates the chance for artists to attach with their followers on a deeper degree, whereas creating actual impression on causes near their hearts,” Roan’s supervisor, Ruby Anton, instructed Good Good Good.
“We couldn’t ask for a greater partnership.”
Again in 2023, earlier than “Good Luck, Babe!” hit the soundwaves, Roan noticed this sort of do-good work as an intrinsic a part of her music venture.
“I discover that it’s my obligation to provide again to the queer neighborhood that helps me. I’ve a platform and I’ve cash to redistribute and I actually encourage different artists to provide again too,” she instructed Polyester Zine final fall.
Whereas Roan’s profession has modified within the brief few months she’s risen to mega-stardom, her core values haven’t.
With Propeller, she is ready to convey organizers and budding activists collectively on the identical choreography.
This occurs the place younger individuals already are: On the soggy grounds of a music competition, or scrolling their uber-personalized Instagram algorithms, accompanied by quippy lyrics and outspoken cries for freedom from the inexperienced lips of a Girl Liberty drag queen.
Header picture by Lucienne Nghiem
