Dear Bands: No Matter How Much You Dislike John McCain, He Can Most Likely Use Your Song
from the can-we-get-this-over-with? dept
The latest in a long line of musicians complaining about Presidential candidate John McCain for his use of their music at campaign stops would be the band the Foo Fighters. Now, as we've pointed out in the past, there are two separate issues to keep in mind here:- In most cases, there's nothing these bands can do from a legal standpoint. Assuming the venue where the music is being played has paid its standard ASCAP license, they can play whatever they want. So when the Foo Fighters make statements like: "It's frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property" is somewhat misleading. It implies that McCain is somehow breaking intellectual property laws. He is not. No matter how much a musician dislikes it, they can't stop these kinds of uses, thanks to the way performance licenses work.
- That said, it still seems rather dumb, from a PR standpoint, for the McCain campaign to keep doing this. By now, it should be clear that in a highly-charged political campaign, a band will speak up against the use of a song, if they don't like the candidate. That just leaves the campaign open to more negative press coverage in a way in which many people will sympathize with the musician against the politician -- even though the politician may be on the legally correct side.
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Filed Under: copyright, foo fighters, john mccain, music, performance rights, presidential campaigns, royalities
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Those musicians (or their descendents) will whine about it, also.
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Political Music usage
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Who Said McCain Gives a Cr*p?
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The sound of the single-hand clap
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No Harm in Asking, or Making a Statement
You're absolutely correct that, assuming the McCain campaign is paying the fees, there is nothing that can be legally done to stop them.
The Foo Fighters statement doesn't actually say that he's breaking the law, and while one might read into the statement the implication you mention, I read it as a public figure, especially a politician, might want to show a little more respect toward artists by at least asking first.
Okay,politicians and respect are not two concepts that naturally go together, and the campaign (and McCain supporters) probably don't really care what the Foo Fighters, Jackson Browne, or Heart think as long as the right mood is set at their rallies.
Reagan was famous for using Springsteen's "Born in the USA" even after the singer asked him to stop. Ronnie and his supporters apparently never actually listened to the lyrics.
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McCain doesn't care what the artists think. I'm sure there are plenty of musicians who would not mind their music being used at McCain's events. Unfortunately it's probably backwoods country bumpkin crap that .05% of America would enjoy hearing.
The funny thing is that if the roles were reversed and someone got public domain photos of McCain and posted them as a border on their super-gay-pr0n-site he would have a tantrum and there would be an uproar. Knowing republicans I wouldn't rule out bloodshed or very creative uses of the "Patriot" Act. After all, they burned effigies of Hillary over health care and hung some of Obama from trees.
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Born In The USA
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Ick
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Re: Political Music usage
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Re: Political Music usage
These guys wrote the song.
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How true. So the objectionable music was authored by a bunch of youths who are living vicariously through Obama? I'm voting for a President, not a 'Rock Star' thank you very much. The Rock Stars can go pound sand.
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Re:
"C'mon, how many musicians do you think actually support McCain? If he had to "start asking musicians whether or not they support the candidate," he wouldn't be able to use any music (well, mabye Ted Nugent, but most of his music isn't really appropriate for a presidential campaign)."
What you don't think McCain would want to use "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang"? haha
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If there is no law against it, by protesting you are driving your fans who may belong to that party away. For Pete's sake put your business hats on guys. Alienate fans and they'll hit you in your proverbial royalty check. I personally vote with my dollars when it comes to musicians who get political.
If you really are creative and want to protest, do it through your art form, not whining to the press.
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I read 1-15 replys
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Re: I read 1-15 replys
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Obama
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WAKE UP
VOTE McCain 2008 - . . . . . . . MAVERICK! . . . . .
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Re:
arent these guys in their 40s?
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Make a statement a leave it that.
Why not release a remix version of the song; My Hero (Cowardly McCain mix)
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Re:
Really? For more than ten years Rush Limbaugh has opened his show with a piece done by Chrissie Hynd & The Pretenders, "My City Was Gone", and it's become Rush's theme song. Whenever the then washed-up Pretenders would play that song in concert, the crowd would go wild. It wasn't because of their album, which was released years earlier - it was Rush's playing the song every day that brought it home.
Maybe Chrissie and the Pretenders don't like Rush, but I'm sure they're not returning any of their royalty checks either.
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Re: Re:
I'm still of the opinion that it's not "stupid" on the part of the McCain campaign. The only place I'm hearing about this is here, so I don't think they're going to get any bad publicity from it.
Lyrics from a pop chorus are often used out of context (given a new meaniing) in television ads. It's not that uncommon.
Also, if I like the lyrics (in context) of a song and what they say, then I really don't care what the artist's personal views are. There are a few Beatles songs I'd gladly use, but Paul McCartney would never agree with me on anything.
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Re: Re: Political Music usage
That would actually be infringement, because there's no compulsory use rights for photos.
For music, however, there is.
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Re: WAKE UP
I think you are just trying to connect dots that just plainly don't exist. I can however, draw a straight line directly to Palin's Husband who was associated with a group that wanted Alaska to succeed from the USA. They downplay it by saying he's ahem... a registered independent voter. The fact is that she's delivering speeches in front of a sign that says "Country First", and it makes me wonder, "Which country? The Country of Alaska?"
But like Neo Con supporters, your primary, superficial focus has always been on personal attacks. This is just sad. The Obama team out here has had several folks with Obama signs in front of their house threatened, as in "I'm going to burn your house down" threatened.
But it's not surprising because watching Fox & Friends this morning kinda projected the level of hate that is coming from this campaign. Steve Ducy is the quintessential Asshat, and it seems only recently did O'Riley learn the word "nefarious", as he had to stop after the letter and say "That's a great word."
So I am left with a few theories about you. Either you've been watching the VP debates with your pants to your knees, or you suffer from this thing called "racism".
Anyways, it just seems it's best to vote for "That One".
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Re: Re: WAKE UP
Dude . . . YOUR part of the problem!
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Re: Re: WAKE UP
I'm surprised it took 28 posts for the race card to come out. If you don't like/vote for Obama, you're a racist (or pervert if you voted McCain/Palin).
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Re: The sound of the single-hand clap
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Legal recourse
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Absurd Comments
The stereotypes on both sides are ludicrous. As a 60's child, who was also a former cop, a son, a father, a family man, a conservative, a liberal, an independent . . . look, learn and listen - don't buy into the hype.
Vote your conscience.
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re: Valkor's question
The performance right extends only to the composition, and not the recording. The record company usually owns the sound recording copyright, but the songwriters (and, often, the publishers) retain control of the composition. So, in this example, the record company doesn't have an enforceable right. It would be whoever wrote "Hero."
Similarly, if McCain used Prince's version of "Best of You," Prince likely would have no enforceable right. Foo Fighters would.
The original post, and this answer, discusses only the right to perform the song at a live venue. Usage in tv commercials, as the McCain campaign has done, brings up different issues.
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Re: Legal recourse
Certainly not if THEY believe what they are saying.
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"This isn't the first time the McCain campaign has used a song without making any attempt to get approval or permission from the artist. It's frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property. The saddest thing about this is that 'My Hero' was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential. To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song. We hope that the McCain campaign will do the right thing and stop using our song--and start asking artists' permission in general!"
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Re: I read 1-15 replys
Good show, old chap!
(If they release their music to the public, in a country that allows compulsory licensing, they have no right to complain. Doing so simply makes them look as though they are unaware of the rules, IOW: stupid)
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Re: Re: Re: WAKE UP
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Re: Re: Legal recourse
if I believe you are a clueless tea-bagging ass-hat, and start posting this as a *fact* on every website with a forum on google's top rankings, that's not the least bit defamatory, right?
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Re:
...Intellectual Property rights are governed by laws. Disrespecting these rights (abusing them) is against the law.
Try to think beyond the words.
Hell, do you believe every commercial you see?
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Re:
I groan in agony every time I hear that adage. What a crock. You want to call yourself a Conservative? Well, when you retire you better not take any Social Security or apply for any government assistance.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: WAKE UP
Both. Just get with ACORN and they'll setup you up. ;)
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Re:
Second of all, as this piece explained, the artist already GAVE their permission for the song to be used (through an ASCAP license), but they did not know that it would be used on McCain's campaign, so now, they are upset about it. But it's too late- they already gave the permission. Get it?
Also I should note that for the copyright in a sound recording (which the labels have), there actually IS no exclusive right of performance. But this is not the place to elaborate.
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Re: Ick
The answer is that no companies or inventors would have any incentive to create and manufacture anything if they knew it would be given away for free.
There is a common-sense reason why intellectual property (such as 'songs') are protected by what you call 'legal mumbo jumbo.' Without protection that makes sure one can reap the benefits of their labor (spending thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in a recording studio after years of composing), there would BE no songs.
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McCain's use of music
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Implied Endorsement
Because politics is such a special case, I think that ASCAP should not be permitted to sell a use license to political organizations/for political uses as part of their normal licensing. (Though if an artist wanted to opt to waive all reviews and let their music be licensed for 'any use' that would be ok.) Political use would then be reserved right for the recording artist, and if they approved then ASCAP could administer the usual licensing fee -- and if they didn't, the request wouldn't go through.
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Re:
As the article points out, there is nothing legally to be done. But it's not just a case of McCain. Worldwide, politicians piggyback on the popularity of specific songs to build their message and writers are often pissed off.
If I was in that position, I would grumble too. And if I was a campaign organiser, I'd check with the writers beforehand to avoid these silly public spats. I'd imagine there must be songwriters out there that would not mind endorsing McCain indirectly.
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Re: Re: I read 1-15 replys
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