Paul’s Rush to judgment backfires

Question: Who uses music without permission and is not an illegal downloader? Answer: Politicians.

Yes, it appears the music industry has yet another foe on its horizon, this time in the form of political campaigns that use artists’ songs without first asking their permission. The latest offender? Rand Paul.

Earlier this week, rock band Rush asked Paul to stop using its seminal hit “Spirit of the Radio,” which featured in an online campaign video for the Kentucky Republican. Anthem Entertainment Group delivered a cease-and-desist letter on behalf of the band, claiming Paul infringed upon Rush’s copyright to the song. Paul’s campaign manager countered that the song served merely as “background music” (major slight to Rush fans, including yours truly) and that the complaint amounted to a “non-issue.”

Funny how the very people sworn to uphold and protect the sanctity of an artist’s copyright are the self-same folks who wipe their shoes on it every chance they get. Rush is hardly the only victim. Last week Florida Governor Charlie Crist got slapped with a lawsuit by David Byrne for allegedly using “The Road to Nowhere,” Byrne’s Talking Heads hit, in a video campaign without permission.

Earlier this week, Don Henley won a copyright judgment against California Senate hopeful Chuck DeVore for illegally using “All She Wants to Do is Dance” and “The Boys of Summer” in two YouTube videos in 2009.

The phenomenon is not just endemic to the States, either. Britain’s Conservative Party was recently blasted by rock band Keane for using a 2004 song without permission for its election manifesto launch (the Tories also used David Bowie’s “Changes” during the launch).

Nor is the trend a recent one. John Mellencamp, the Foo Fighters, Van Halen, and ABBA all suffered having their songs used without permission by the John McCain presidential campaign in 2008. That same year, Heart lashed out at the Republican Party for illegally co-opting “Barracuda” on behalf of Sarah Palin. Sam Moore asked Barack Obama to quit using “Hold On, I’m Comin’” at campaign rallies. Even Ronald Reagan was an offender, forced to cease using songs by Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen in campaign ads during the 1980s.

The evidence goes on and on, not because politicians are necessarily bad people (mostly), but because of a little thing called the First Amendment.

“I actually think there are a lot of lawyers who believe that there is an exemption for use of protected materials under free speech…without really getting into the specifics of what that entails,” Jack Leimer, an instructor at the Chicago Kent-College of Law said during an April panel examining the issue. Political speech is protected by the First Amendment. Copyright ensures artists and authors get fair compensation and credit for their creations. Trademark further helps consumers understand where, exactly, certain goods and services come from.

Throwing all of these issues into one pot can make for legal indigestion, especially when some see restrictions in copyright and trademark laws as infringements upon free speech.

When it comes to the Internet, writes Jamie Loo in Post Exchange, a publication of the McCormick Freedom Project, “music artists can ask to have their work taken off a Web site and some have taken it into the court of public opinion by exposing a candidate’s disregard for the copyright law.”

On the other hand, some artists who have been out of the limelight for years might actually benefit from a little unexpected political campaign exposure, even if they don’t agree with the offender’s politics.

Be that as it may, Loo rightly points out that politicians spend plenty on copywriters, ad agencies, and acting talent to flesh out their campaign advertising pieces. Paying for rights to a song should be part and parcel.

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Photo by Jayel Aheram, used under a Creative Commons license.