There is also another aspect: Usually it's the composer of the song that has the rights.
But Celine Dion asked Trump to stop playing, My Heart Will Go On. She did sing it, but she did not write it. (The man who wrote the words it passed away a few days ago.)
Again, in most cases it's the musician who wrote the song who hold the rights. For example, about ten years ago at Coachella, Prince played Creep by Radiohead. Someone posted a video of him playing it on YouTube. Prince contacted YouTube and asked the video to be pulled. When Radiohead found out the video was pulled, they contacted YouTube and had the video restored. So, that shows the writer has more power than the performer. [Radiohead had to credit Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood on that song, because it was similar to a song by them.]
Could Ted Nugent ask them not to play it? Sure. Will he? I don't know if he should.
Great points. Here is a primer for those interested beyond this post: https://soundcharts.com/blog/performance-royalties-vs-mechanical
In the case of Stranglehold, the song writers are Ted Nugent, Rob Grange, and Derek St. Holmes. It is possible that those writers formed their own company, ie Pete Townshend had Towser Tunes. If that is the case, that company needs to be contacted and not the three songwriters. The royalty payments to the songwriters are called mechanical royalties.
The rights to the performance, ie the recording of Stranglehold, don’t come into play here since Toe Jam covered Stranglehold.
I could see Ted calling their other writers, and prompting them to go to war.
I could also see Ted letting it go, and wait for extra cash to roll in as people stream Stranglehold.
My point is, everyone gets bent out of shape when Trump is running the turntable. But Eddie Vedder gets a pass.
Ted should start doing his own version of “Jeremy” and see how PJ likes that