Every election cycle since Reagan’s 1984 campaign has included – to a greater or lesser degree – tension around the use of music by candidates during their events. In fact, while Reagan’s misguided use of “Born in the USA” was the first truly memorable and visible kerfuffle, it’s likely that, to paraphrase, Raymond Kurzweil , that it’s not that the (mis)-usage of music is getting worse, but that our information with respect to reporting it has gotten better.
In any case, here we are again, and nary a day goes by when there aren’t pleas/demands from artists for politicians to stop using their music, and the media seems to be more engaged than ever in reporting this phenomenon. Yours truly was even recently on NECN discussing Donald Trump’s use of music during the RNC, and – at only a slightly more visible level [wink] – John Oliver devoted a large portion of his weekly show to the subject , and even created a song – featuring artists like Josh Groban, Usher , Sheryl Crowe, and others – that articulated these artists’ frustrations around the issue (I’m writing another piece on how problematic this song is in terms of the artists’ seeming misunderstanding of the rights issues).
With respect to whether or not politicians can use artists’ music: Briefly, if these artists are the songwriters and have affiliated with a Performance Rights Organization (PRO), like ASCAP, SESAC, or BMI, and the venues in which these events are taking place have purchased a blanket license to publicly perform the songs that are in the catalogs of these organizations, these candidates are within their rights to do so. With an increasing number of artists asserting that they have not authorized their music to be played at Donald Trump Campaign events, George Howard explains […]
