A Modest Proposal: A Way to Fix the Rock Hall's Online Fan Vote
The online fan vote is one of the most notable additions the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame made this past decade. Starting in 2012 (for the Class of 2013), the Rock Hall implemented an online vote allowing users to cast their ballots and getting a sense on who the public believes should be inducted. The results of the fan vote are compiled and counted as one collective ballot that gives the artists finishing in the top-five an extra vote. Sounds good, right? In a way, the implementation of the online fan vote is perhaps the most transparent and democratic thing the Rock Hall has ever done. Getting input from the fans is always a good thing, especially considering the Hall wants patrons to frequent their museums and attend the annual induction ceremony (among other festivities). They even installed kiosks inside the museum to get a pulse on which prospective candidates the Rock Hall should consider in the near future (I mean, why else would most Rock Hall watchers choose Motley Crue on their prediction list in the last few weeks?) But at the same time, the online fan vote is essentially worthless considering it only counts as one collective ballot in a sea of roughly 1,000 other ballots in the larger voting body.
Calls for more fan involvement in the Rock Hall’s voting process have been mentioned by several musicians over the years. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1999 (Black Sabbath received a Rock Hall nomination for the following year’s class), Ozzy Osbourne critiqued the Rock Hall’s voting process: “Just take our name off the list. Save the ink. Forget about us. The nomination is meaningless, because it’s not voted on by the fans. It’s voted on by the supposed elite for the industry and the Media, who’ve never bought an album or concert ticket in their lives, so their vote is irrelevant to me.” In a backstage interview that surfaced on YouTube last year (although that video was taken offline for reasons unknown), Paul Rodgers—the Bad Company and Free frontman is not a Hall of Famer himself—similarly quipped, “It’s a corporate thing, it’s not a fan-driven thing. It’s not decided by the fans.”
The Rock Hall, in many ways, should be centered around the fans. After all, they’re the ones spending their money going to the museum and induction ceremonies each year. In order to remain relevant, the Rock Hall needs to continue listening to their fans. Both singers have valid criticisms against the Rock Hall’s voting process. For one thing, the Nominating Committee is often accused of cronyism throughout its history. It’s also an institution built on elitism where the chosen ones (the artists nominated and inducted into this institution) are selected arbitrarily to be members of an exclusive group of inductees (sometimes against their own will). There’s no hierarchy or chronology in most of the decisions made by the Nominating Committee, which leaves many fans frustrated and prone to complain about the Rock Hall.
To the Rock Hall’s credit, they did create the fan vote as a way to get fans more involved in the voting process. But the current fan vote creates a false illusion that fans have a substantial impact on who gets inducted into the Rock Hall. Even if 1,000 voters voted and mailed their ballots, then it would count 0.10% of the vote. No matter how you frame it, the fan vote is essentially worthless and fans have virtually no impact on the final result.
When they started their podcast Hall Watchers (if you haven’t listened already, do so immediately!) earlier this year, co-host Mary challenged other Rock Hall watchers to come up with ideas to make the institution better. Sure, we could complain about the Rock Hall all we want, but sometimes we have to take matters into our own hands and proclaim change ourselves. Instead, we have to be problem solvers who envision a better vision for its future. We have an invested interest and passion about the Rock Hall. Why else would we constantly talk about all things Rock Hall on various websites and social media platforms? Mary’s comments largely inspired me to start an online petition to get Evelyn McDonnell on the Rock Hall’s Nominating Committee this past summer. With a new decade quickly approaching, I’ve been actively thinking of ways to make the Rock Hall’s processes better and more effective .
Here’s my proposal: instead of the online fan vote counting as one collective ballot, I propose the five winners of the annual fan vote receive an extra 5% of the total results in their favor. If there are, for example, a thousand ballots cast in a given year, then those five artists get an extra fifty ballots in the final tally. By having a percentage of the total votes (as opposed to one single vote), the fans would have more input on who are gets inducted while still giving the “experts” in the larger voting body (consisting of historians, journalists, musicians, industry people, and of course living HOF inductees) the majority of the final votes. It’s highly unlikely a single vote would propel an artist to induction, but there have been reports of artists coming very close to induction in recent years (e.g., LL Cool J, Chic).
Fifty ballots may not seem like a big difference, but it could be what pushes an artist over the threshold for induction. When Yes, for example, first appeared on the 2014 ballot, they apparently missed induction by a few dozen votes. If this rule was established, perhaps Yes would’ve been inducted a few years earlier and the Nominating Committee could’ve moved onto other Progressive Rock legends much sooner (e.g., The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, King Crimson). This idea allows the number to fluctuate each year depending on the number of ballots received from voters in the larger voting body. In fact, I believe this could light a fire under the members of the larger voting body to actually sent in their mailed ballots.
The Rock Hall remains mum on whether the online fan vote plays a significant factor in the eyes of the larger voting. But on average at least 3 artists who rank in the top-five of the online fan vote are inducted. In the last few years, 4 artists in the top-five received induction, so perhaps the voters in the larger voting body are paying attention to the fan vote and basing their decisions on that. Or simply, it could just be a coincidence. But of all the artists who finished in the top-five over the years, only Nine Inch Nails, Judas Priest, and Todd Rundgren yet to receive induction. So clearly the winners of the fan vote would a major advantage to receive induction in any given year (but it’s not a guarantee).
With incoming Rock Hall chairman John Sykes taking the reins from Jann Wenner starting in January, I would not expect this change to occur until next year. But if the Hall really wants more fan involvement in the process, I think this is a step in the right direction and gives fans more of an opportunity to make their votes heard. As more reports of Sykes’ goals for the Rock Hall’s future, it is clear the institution will base most (if not all) of its decision on the fans.
Although maybe the Rock Hall will want to scale back how much they listen to the fans, a percentage-based structure allows fans to have more input and have their voices heard. I believe there are a couple of issues and topics that the Rock Hall should consider for this proposal to be successfully implemented:
The Rock Hall needs to continue closely monitoring the cyber security of their online fan vote. After the online fan vote was taken over by bots back in 2015 (38 million votes!?!), the Rock Hall partnered with Votem to oversee the fan ballot the following year. No reports of hacking or suspicious activity has been recorded since Votem took over. But at the same time, Votem needs to ensure users voting with just one email account on the same IP address each day. There should be integrity with the fan vote with no suspicious activity at play. If there are issues with the fan vote under Votem, then the Rock Hall should consider using another provider.
The Rock Hall should use the museum’s kiosks as an alternative place for fans to cast their votes. Just like they do at the museum, visitors can vote using their wristbands and share their ballots to others on social media. The kiosks could be a way for museumgoers to get excited about the next batch of potential inductees and maybe even see them again at next year’s ceremony (which takes place in Cleveland). And plus, it’s free advertising on the museum’s part that does not require any additional space. If this is implemented, the Rock Hall should regularly monitor the kiosks and constantly input those votes towards the online fan vote.
The Rock Hall needs to make clear that a percentage-based calculation of the fan vote does not (and should not) affect which artists are nominated by the Nominating Committee each year. As a way to ensure integrity and quality of artists nominated each year, I believe it’s okay to have a few populist choices (yes, even Motley Crue) as long as there’s ample representation in other styles and genres across the history of rock and roll. If the ballots are as musically diverse as the ones put on last year’s ballot (and hoping the next one year released in a few short hours), then I believe they will be in good shape.
Finally, I believe the Rock Hall should enact a “three-strike” rule for members in the larger voting body.Apparently, the return rate of the ballots received are low in certain years, so I believe this is something the Rock Hall should further explore. If a voter does not submit their ballot 3 consecutive years, they will have their voting privileges revoked. This would not apply to Rock Hall inductees who are guarantee to receive ballots for the rest of their lives. This would apply to music journalists, historians, and other professionals in the music industry. If those voters refuse to vote (for whatever reason), give the ballots to voters who do care.
I’ll be honest with my readers: I’m not 100% sold on this idea and I wonder if this would make any difference from what current structure of the fan vote. I just thought this could be a way for the Rock Hall to get more involvement from their fans. I would even take a different percentage number if it proved more popular (even 1% of the final tally, that’s still 10 extra votes in an artist’s favor). The Rock Hall is notorious for their lack of transparency and I do not think that will be changing any time soon. But I believe this is a worthwhile proposition to explore in the near future.
Do you agree or disagree with this proposal? Please respond in the comments section below or send a message to @NickDBambach on Twitter.
