[Boogieman]

Actually, the artists cannot stop politicians from using their music in public appearances. If the policitian only wants to pay for a single license for one piece of music, the copyright owner has a veto, however, the politician could just buy a blanket license from BMI or ASCAP, and they would still be able to play the song, but they would probably have to pay more money.

I think most politicians get in trouble because they play the songs without bothering to get any license at all.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Actually, the artists cannot stop politicians from using their music in public appearances. If the policitian only wants to pay for a single license for one piece of music, the copyright owner has a veto, however, the politician could just buy a blanket license from BMI or ASCAP, and they would still be able to play the song, but they would probably have to pay more money."

I got in an argument about this a couple of years ago with someone who claimed artists can refuse to allow their music to be used even when the proper fee is paid. So I don't know the law. Perhaps the Republican Party was just trying to avoid a fight and so backed down, or did not want to spend the extra money to use a particular song.