Four years of Trump in the White House: what can artists do?

It’s not just members of the US Republican Party who may be changing their mind about Donald Trump now that he has the keys to the White House. While the number of musicians who stuck with the mogul-turned-politician during his campaign can be counted on the fingers of one hand – Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, the Naked Cowboy and, um . . . wasn’t there someone else? – there’s always room for more to join the gang.

Stand up Kanye West. Will the rapper’s pronouncement that he would have voted for Trump if he’d bothered actually voting in the first place, lead to an invite to perform at one of the inauguration balls in January? Given the fallout from West’s recent Saint Pablo tour cancellation and subsequent hospital admission, chances are he won’t be going anywhere near a stage for a while.

Yet there will be plenty of musical slots which will have to be filled in the coming four years on various line-ups to do with the new presidency. There are many who will hold their noses and step up to the plate in the interests of influence or publicity (see Bono’s past dalliances with George W Bush, for example).

It would probably be safe to say at this juncture, though, that the majority of those who answered Barack Obama’s call to come to the White House over the past eight years will not be so forthcoming when the new people get in touch. No matter how hard you try, you can’t imagine the likes of Frank Ocean, Chance the Rapper or Kendrick Lamar politely breaking bread alongside Trump. Then again, the contents of the incoming prez’s Spotify playlist may yet surprise us all.

However, it’s worth noting that music and art played little or no part in changing minds during the recent campaign. Sure, you had some of the usual suspects out shilling for Hillary Clinton, but the support from the likes of Beyoncé and Jay-Z appears to have had little effect on the voters in the places that mattered. The only effect was to turn up the volume in the echo chamber a few notches.

We did see new vice-president Mike Pence get a polite talking-to from the cast of Hamilton on his weekend visit to the theatre, but that came after rather than before the election. Moreover, it's probably put him off going to the theatre for the next few years.

Endorsements

One of the many lessons to be learned from this year’s US campaign is that musical and cultural endorsements actually didn’t mean a damn thing. It’s hard to say if they ever did, but this time they were up there alongside the experts and elites in failing to sway the voters. Just because you like the cut of someone’s music doesn’t mean you’re going to vote for the person they’re backing, especially when there are far more important issues to consider.

It’s up to the artists who want to have a say in what happens next to change this. We’ve become so used to self-interested musicians only giving out about the stuff that matters to them, such as royalty statements from streaming services, that we tend to turn off when they talk about something with more heft and weight.

The next four years in the United States and elsewhere are going to be hugely interesting in terms of politics, policies and pushback. If musicians and artists really want to reflect the concerns of their audiences rather than their own interests, they’re going to have start paying attention and getting involved. Either that or give up and make nice with the new guy.