The Rolling Stones demand Trump stop using its music at rallies, but can the band actually stop him?
WASHINGTON POST,By Travis M. Andrews May 5, 2016 As Donald Trump took to the stage at Trump Tower on Tuesday to deliver his victory speech, a familiar tune filled the room: "Start Me Up," that rough, thumping anthem by the Rolling Stones.
(Perhaps Trump hadn't listened to the final two lines of the song beforehand, which Salon reported had to be cut for their raunchiness during the band's Super Bowl appearance in 2006).
The song has a history of advertorial usage - it was the first Stones song used in a TV commercial when Microsoft co-opted it to sell its Windows 95 operating system, Business Insider reported - but the band might be more fond of Bill Gates than of Trump.
On Wednesday, it released a statement that read, "The Rolling Stones have never given permission to the Trump campaign to use their songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately," Entertainment Weekly reported.
It's far from the first time this sort of thing has happened. Numerous examples have appeared in this election season alone. Trump's candidacy kicked off with Canadian rocker Neil Young blasting the businessman-turned-politician for using "Rockin' in the Free World" during his candidacy announcement. Adele and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler have both demanded Trump stop using their music, the Associated Press reported.
And a glance at history reveals many more examples. Perhaps the most notable one is Bruce Springsteen versus President Ronald Reagan. During his successful run for reelection in 1984, Reagan announced to a crowd in New Jersey, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside our hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen," CNN reported.
He was referencing "Born in the U.S.A.," which he had requested to use in his campaign, only to be denied by Springsteen. He was so angry, the previously apolitical rock star began speaking out against Reagan.
"I think people have a need to feel good about the country they live in. But what's happening, I think, is that that need … is getting manipulated and exploited," Springsteen told Rolling Stone, regarding the candidate's request.
Do bands have any true recourse to stop politicians, aside from making public statements and hoping to shame them into pulling the songs from their campaigns? As it turns out, the answer to that question is both yes and no.
First, it depends on how the songs are used. Most of the complaints listed above are for politicians using their songs at campaign rallies, which the Associated Press reports is legally OK so long as either the political organization or the venue acquires a "blanket license" for an artist's entire catalogue from ASCAP and BMI - both of these are nonprofit performing rights organizations that license music and distribute royalties. A blanket license is how your favorite restaurant or bar plays its tunes, according to the New York Times.
That said, BMI allows artists to opt songs out of the blanket license, which would disallow such use.
But if the song in question is going to be used in a commercial, it's important to acquire permission, because royalties for that specific usage will have to be paid to whoever owns the recording, NPR reported.
Then, there's what the song's usage might denote. Musicians can (and have) sued politicians for false advertising claiming that the song makes it seem as if the musician has endorsed a particular candidate, the New York Times reported. The "right of publicity" also potentially allows an artist to protect his or her image in the public realm.
"It's untested in the political realm," Iser told Rolling Stone.
"Even if Donald Trump has the ASCAP right to use a Neil Young song, does Neil have the right to nevertheless go after him on right of publicity? I say he does."
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