The Use of Copyrighted Music at Political Campaign Events

Every election cycle, we often hear the same thing. A candidate used a particular song at a campaign rally or event, and the artist objects, and insists that the candidate stop using his or her copyrighted musical work.

Are Politics Always Public?

We tend to think of politics as being in the public domain. That probably stems from the fact that politicians generally cannot enforce intellectual property as to their name and likeness—you can put Donald Trump or Kamala Harris or Barack Obama or anybody else you want, wherever or on whatever merchandise you want, and you can also put or use anything that they say.

This is, of course, assuming that they are saying things in connection with their campaign or as part of their public image. So, for example, you could put a Donald Trump quote that he said in a debate on a shirt, but you could not take a line from a book written by Donald Trump, and copy that to sell, as the book is not a part of Donald Trump’s political campaign or part of any political function.

What About Licenses?

But the same freedoms don’t necessarily apply to music. Just because you could put Kamala Harris on a shirt, doesn’t mean that she, or Trump, or any other political candidate, can use whatever music that they want at campaign events and rallies.

Just like an artist performing a song, or a venue playing a song over their loudspeakers, a license must be obtained from a performing rights organization, such as BMI or ASCAP before an artist’s music can be used.

In many cases, the artist—in this case, the political campaigns—don’t have to worry about licenses, because venues often get blanket licenses from ASCAP or BMI. That’s often why the local bar can have a band playing popular music; the venue has already secured licenses from these organizations.

However, many organizations do have opt outs, where a typical license for a venue to play music does not include the rights to use music for political events. That’s because of the obvious—while an artist just wants money for his or her songs being played normally, the artist still wants control over whether to be associated, or not associated, with a political candidate.

That means that in most cases, candidates cannot just use an artist’s music, without that artist’s specific consent.

What About Fair Use?

Many believe that the doctrine of fair use laws protects campaigns.

They do not, when it comes to music. A candidate could use a copyrighted news clip in an advertisement, or a piece of a news article to illustrate a political point. But there is rarely a reason that a piece of music is needed, and simply playing a song to rally a crowd at an event would likely not be considered fair use.

Questions about copyright use or infringement? Call the West Palm Beach commercial litigation lawyers at Pike & Lustig today.

Source:

copyrightalliance.org/faqs/music-political-campaigns-fair-use/