Posted on 09/05/2008 11:05:43 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
John McCain's campaign has suffered a Heart attack -- of the legal variety.
TMZ.com is reporting that Ann and Nancy Wilson are upset that their 1977 rock hit "Barracuda" was used without their permission in the Xcel Energy Center at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
The Heart duo has "fired off a cease and desist letter" to the McCain/Palin campaign, the gossip website is reporting this morning.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
To say they don’t opens a very large Pandora’s box. I don’t think you want to go there.”
They also have it licensed out to BMI and/or ASCAP, for a fee. For that matter, since the RNC is not-for-profit, this could possibly be a “Fair-Use” issue. WE could claim it was sarcasm, even! ;)
There was a brief flare-up of this sort suggesting that the female entertainer (don’t know here name) whose guitar riffs are used by Rush Limbaugh as theme music had objected to Rush using it. Rush offered on the air to stop using it, but then, if there ever were any objections, the artist decided the $40,000+ plus per year was pretty nice.
This is from Wikipedia:
Theme song issue
“Almost from the start of his program, Limbaugh used an edited and looped version of the intro from The Pretenders’ “My City Was Gone” as the theme to his show.
When a landmark copyright case was decided in the 1990s, musical artists gained control over their works when performed thematically. Briefly in 1999, Limbaugh was forced to suspend playing the song while negotiating with the attorneys of the song’s writer, Crissie Hynde. She decided to allow Limbaugh to use it, with Limbaugh paying her approximately $500,000/year which she donates to the animal rights organization PETA. Hynde explained that she doesn’t agree with Limbaugh but her parents are big fans.[5]
During that time, “She Drives Me Crazy” from Fine Young Cannibals was used as the theme song. (It is used currently by WSB-AM host Clark Howard.)”
Don’t know how accurate it is. What I posted above was from remembering Rush’s discussing this on the air. Hard to believe that he’s paying $500,000 per year for use of the song. I remembered his mentioning around $40,000 per year.
What she said was that while she wasn't particularly a Rush fan (nor a rabid critic, either), her Mom absolutely loved Rush and hearing him use her song. So, if it made her Mom happy, she was cool with it.
LOL! Chrissy “I shot my mouth off and you showed me what it holds” Hynde listening to her Mom!
I remember thinking, “What is that horrible noise?” I hope the GOP stops playing it so I don’t have to use the mute button.
Cat Scratch Fever?
You can’t use someone else’s intellectual property without their permission, and “Barracuda” is doubtlessly still under copyright.
You think all those saloons and discos with the “ASCAP” and “BMI” stickers on the door are copyright violators for playing copyrighted recordings for their customers?
You think they are supposed to get permission from each artist before they play them? I know that many artists would object if they could to their recordings being played along with nude strippers’ gyrations. So why don’t they?
Think about it.
(The answer is that this is the work of the Heart PR agent, who is just getting free publicity for the hags.)
Why did they send a cease and desist notice if the RNC paid the copyright fee? The answer you propose might be correct in this case, though.
NSS. Nice sense of humor.
I had forgotten this song until the producers used it during a scene in the remake of Charlie’s Angels where Lucy Liu poses as an efficiency expert. It is a hilarious scene, and I think of that when I think of Sarah Palin taking on the Washington insiders.
If it's listed in the ASCAP catalog, and the fee is paid, you can use it.
ASCAP trumps any residual rights of an original copyright holder every single time. If you don't want to deal with ASCAP you can try to market your own stuff.
I’m all for deciding where the fruits of my labors are put to use. From this point forward my taxdollars are to go to the following: Supporting our troops, supporting our schools, building our roads, etc., They are NOT to go to: Welfare queens, bike paths in Massachusetts, free college for minorities. This musical group is on to something and I’m all for it.
A party convention is a closed format, closed event, invite only not ope to the public. The media chosses to make it public and unless they restrict what they play it's not the conventioners fault.
Rush made a deal with Chrissie Hynde -
he donated a bunch of money to some common animal lover charity
and she shut up about the song.
thx for the info.
I didn’t know that.
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