Posted on 09/06/2008 10:39:05 AM PDT by markomalley
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The rock group Heart, angry that its '70s hit "Barracuda" is being used as the unofficial theme song for Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, is taking aim at the Alaska governor.
The song, a nod to the "Sarah Barracuda" nickname Palin earned on the basketball court in high school, was dusted off for her appearance at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on Wednesday.
Heart singers Ann and Nancy Wilson said a "cease-and-desist" letter has been sent to the Republicans asking them not to use the song.
"The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission," according to a statement issued late on Thursday on behalf of the sisters.
There was no immediate comment from the Republican camp.
Last month, rocker Jackson Browne sued Republican presidential candidate John McCain, the Republican National Committee and the Ohio Republican Party, accusing them of using his 1977 hit "Running on Empty" in a campaign ad without permission.
Copyright law may not be on the Wilsons' side as the song is licensed for public performance under a blanket fee paid by the venue to ASCAP, the firm that collects royalties on behalf of composers and copyright owners.
Despite the Wilson sisters' objections, one of the song's co-writers said he was "thrilled" that the song was used.
In an e-mail to Reuters, the band's former guitarist, Roger Fisher, said it was a win-win situation. Heart gets publicity and royalties, while the Republicans benefit from "the ingenious placement of a kick-ass song," Fisher said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Nancy Wilson reminds me of John Belushi’s impersonation of Elizabeth Taylor - a hyterically funny SNL bit.
I checked and saw some very odd comments.
Now that's funny!
You can’t use someone else’s music in a public venue like that. We ran into issues back when I taught aerobics and we used popular music. We had to pay a fee to ASCAP and BPI which covered us.
susie
Gretchen performed at the convention, missed it myself. No idea what she sang..
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a non-profit performance rights organization that protects its members’ musical copyrights by monitoring public performances of their music, whether via a broadcast or live performance, and compensating them accordingly. ASCAP collects licensing fees from users of music created by ASCAP members, then distributes them back to its members as royalties (BMI has a similar method for its members). In effect, the arrangement is the product of a compromise: when a song is played, the user does not have to pay the copyright holder directly, nor does the music creator have to bill a radio station for use of a song.
ASCAP attracted media attention in 1996 when it threatened Girl Scouts of the USA and Boy Scouts of America camps that sang ASCAP’s copyrighted works at camps with lawsuits for not paying licensing fees. These threats were later retracted.
ASCAP has also been criticized for its extremely non-transparent operations, including the refusal to release attendance records for board members, the notes from board meetings, and the reasoning behind their weighting formulas which determine how much money a song or composition gets paid for use on TV or radio.
Like comparing Palin to Eagleton?
I couldn’t have imagined they would not have gone thru the proper channels. Anyone involved in putting on events knows this stuff and these are, after all, professionals. Thanks for posting that.
susie
I know this isn't nice, but I'm sorry -- does Ann look like a typical female impersonator here to anyone else? I think it's the one-tone black 'do and the Liza-esque make-up that has me seeing her this way.
Hmmm, so if radio station owners decide to nix Heart out of their play lists now, will they go all Dixie Chick on us?
You know, I don’t like the fact that their acting like spoiled brats, but cut us older ladies a little slack. Not all of us look at 50 like we did at 25. Some people have fortunate genes and don’t seem to age, but most of us...well... Frankly, lots of over 50 men don’t look so great either!
;)
susie
Until a couple of years ago, Heart was always my favorite band, than I joined the Heart.com discussion boards...yikes! Made me look at the two sisters completely different. I still think Ann has the most beautiful voice ever, when she is singing that is, talking, no thanks.
By the way checked the message board, my account was still active even though I hadn’t been on in years (I am DreamboatAnnie)...the board is down for several days...hmmmm
Do you mean Ann? Ann is the brunette...
In her defense...don’t throw eggs at me...this was before she lost a lot of weight. She will probably never be thin, but she does look a lot better now....
I didn’t see that one. But I saw enough.
If someone wants to oppose McCain-Palin for not being conservative enough that’s fine, but to post anti-Palin smears from an Obama-loving media is entirely different.
Looks like the one on the left was built back when meat was cheap.
her sister still looks great, so I doubt the genetics arguement
OOps, sorry. My bad. Remember that Belushi bit?
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