As 2015 reaches its end, the U.S. presidential candidates are rushing to cement the message of their political campaigns. From creating slogans to sampling songs as their political anthems, the candidates are working strenuously to promote their presidential objectives in campaign rallies across the country. However, some of these promotion methods have produced an array of issues; one in particular has created hostility between the candidates and American recording artists—unauthorized music licensing.
According to an article in the New York Times, a select few of the presidential hopefuls have been illegally copyrighting songs from famous musicians and utilizing them as anthems in their political campaigns. Instead of asking the artists for permission to use their songs, the candidates have obtained public performance licenses from ASCAP and BMI, two music agencies. As a result, they have received access to millions of songs and have thus exploited the artists for their music.
There are two significant impacts that non-approved music licensing has on an individual artist or band,” says Ryan Burns, a faculty member within the music department at Colorado College. “The first is the implication that they support the particular issue or figure where their music appears. The second impact is the long-standing association that their music might have with what appears to be a fleeting moment.”
As stated in the article “7 Misconceptions About Licensing Music Legally vs. Stealing”, by Lee Morris, one can obtain music licenses from companies such as ASCAP and BMI to play background music in a studio, songs at a restaurant, or songs at any other business venue. However, in order to attach songs to slide shows and videos, or to incorporate them into presidential campaigns, one must get permission from the songwriters, the artists, and the artists’ label. If they do not, they illegally sanction the music and associate the artists with their political campaigns.
“Now that the Internet captures virtually all live events, the music that accompanies a political figure is permanently archived online,” explained Ryan. “That music, as a result, becomes inextricably linked to the political event.”
One of the greatest copyright offenders in the current presidential race is Republican candidate Donald Trump. He has utilized songs such as Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” and REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” on numerous occasion at his campaign rallies and has been confronted for it multiple times by the artists.
Steven Tyler’s lawyer was quoted in the New York Times article saying, “If Trump for President does not comply with our demands, our client will be forced to pursue any and all legal or equitable remedies which our client may have against you. ”
Despite the severity of potential consequences, Trump has continued to utilize the songs with the support of his campaign staff who continue to argue for his music licensing rights. Similar to Ronald Reagan’s use of the Bruce Springsteen song “Born in the U.S.A.” in his 1984 campaign and the Ohio Republican Party’s use of Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty” in 2008, many politicians and their campaign staff are either ignorant or do not seem to care about the illegality of their unauthorized use of music and the detrimental impact that it leaves on the artists.
“What interests me,” says Daryll Steven, a music librarian within CC’s Albert Seay Library of Music and Art, “is that a campaign worker assumes that a very popular song, that we hear all the time can just be used… [We’ve all heard] these songs everywhere without considering the fact that someone created that [song] and owns it.”