Campaigns adopting songs is nothing new, but squabbles with musicians are

[alp227]

You’ve heard this one before: A hopeful politician plays a song at a rally, and a rankled rock star slaps him with a cease-and-desist letter.

With the 2012 race for the White House officially underway, the first big sparks between a pol and a pop star flew in Waterloo, Iowa, on Monday when Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) blasted the first 29 seconds of Tom Petty’s “American Girl” before announcing her bid for the presidency. Petty’s camp promptly sent a letter asking her to knock it off.

Prepare for 16 more months of this.

Although presidential campaigns have adopted theme songs since Abraham Lincoln was running for office, squabbles between candidates and musicians have only become commonplace since 1984, when President Ronald Reagan name-dropped Bruce Springsteen and his “message of hope” while stumping in New Jersey. (Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” was a rising hit at the time, and although Reagan never reportedly played the song on the trail, the singer complained that his image had been co-opted.)

Since then, this trope has played out during every campaign season like a broken record. Sometimes the disputes go unresolved. Artists can take legal action when a politician uses their music in a campaign advertisement without permission, but they have little recourse against candidates who pump the singers’ hits at public appearances — aside from shaming them in the pages of Rolling Stone.

Despite Petty’s request, Bachmann played “American Girl” again Tuesday after a speech in Myrtle Beach, S.C., but refrained from playing it as she made four tour stops across South Carolina on Wednesday. (A representative for Petty declined to comment on the candidate’s continued use of the tune, and her campaign did not return calls.)

Full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/campaigns-adopting-songs-is-nothing-new-but-squabbles-with-musicians-are/2011/06/29/AGKpKIrH_singlePage.html

The article also pointed out that Hillary Clinton used Petty's "American Girl" in her 2008 campaign.

[Tx4obama]

1. I think the article might have a 'small' mistake.

1) I believe Bachmann was using the 'whole' song (before Tuesday), then
2) Tom Petty sent a cease and desist letter to Bachmann/Bachmann's campaign 'sometime after she was using it and before' Bachmann's Tuesday speech, then
3)On Tuesday night after Bachmann's speech that was when the '29 seconds' of the song was played and abruptly stopped.


June 28, 2011 02:50 PM EDT
Tom Petty to Michele Bachmann: Stop Using My Song
http://politics.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979521645

6/28/11 8:19 PM EDT
Michele Bachmann plays Tom Petty's 'American Girl' again after a speech
" ... Yet the song blasted over the loudspeakers again immediately following Bachmann's Tuesday night speech in South Carolina.
After playing for exactly 29 seconds, it abruptly stopped. ..."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57985.html

p.s. I just wanted to mention that because the OP kinda made it sound like Petty sent the cease and desist letter because of the '29 seconds', and the 29 second incident happened after the cease and desist letter. Someone in charge of the music must have played it Tuesday night be mistake and yanked it really quick.


Anyway the bottom line still is that the Republicans need to STOP using songs that they haven't gotten permission ahead of time to use.

[murphyj87]

2. Generally...

Copyright owners only want to be asked to use a piece of music or have a nominal fee paid, which in the whole scheme of campaign financing is equivalent to a few dollars.

[Tx4obama]

3. But in Politics

Liberal songwriters/performers have a right to not have their songs used by Republicans as theme songs, rally songs, etc.
That is one of the perks to owning the copyright ;)

[Fuddnik]

4. Right.

John Kerry used several Springsteen songs throughout his 2004 campaign. No complaint

Reagan tried using them in his 1984 campaign, and got a cease and desist.

Sometimes artists don't want their music associated with what they stand against.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. The thing about songs is they are often owned property and one

can not 'adopt' the property of another, one has to buy the right to use it. Such property is not there to be used by anyone who wants to, anymore than Bachaman's home could be 'adopted' by Tom Petty. Adopting another person's car is called 'grand theft auto' for example.