Heart attack for GOPFollow

Yeah, saw this yesterday.

Who doesn't know to check with the artist, or at least find out if the music you want to use is in the public domain and get a cheap knockoff made?

Isn't Biden all buddy buddy with the MPAA and the RIAA?

That's one reason a lot of my friends involved in the US Pirate Party were less than enthusiastic about the Biden pick.

Biden needs to draw attention to the fact that the GOP has pissed off many recording artists by using their work without permission.

I believe that would be her point.

While I'm sure you did "hear it", you do realize why it should be obvious to you that this is false, right?


While I've certainly not researched this specific event, it looks to me like it's a stunt by the artists to get their opinion out there and a "zing" against the McCain/Palin ticket, which in turn allows the sheep out there to parrot it and think it's a big deal. Unless they used the song in an advertisement, or it was part of a scheduled performance used to draw people to an event, there's no copyright infringement here. They can make a big deal about sending a cease and desist order, but it's meaningless.


You do not need an artist's permission to play a recording of their song in the background as part of some other event. If you did every single bar, stripclub, dance club, and party would have to pay (the artists, not just the DJ) to provide music for their activities. Same deal applies to political events. If they want to play Heart's songs in the background they can. I'm sure they'll avoid doing so because of the order, but legally Heart can't make them. It's part of the deal when you make money selling something. The person who paid money for it (a copy of the CD in this case) gets to play and listen to the music.


What's funny is that while I've heard the barracuda nickname mentioned, I have not *once* heard the song being played in any manner relating to Palin. Maybe it was on in the background during the convention and I missed it, but this is a bit of a stretch. Hardly "cease and desist" worthy...

Only if the music is part of the show (performed or highlighted in some way) If they played it on the sound system in the background (along with dozens of other songs by other artists), it does not require any permission.

Again. I don't recall hearing the song at all during the broadcast. Maybe I missed it. I got home late that day and saw only the rebroadcast, so it's possible it was prominently used earlier and wasn't there later. In any case it clearly wasn't "part of the show". No permission is needed.

Did you hear it played while watching? If not, then this is less about infringement and more about an easy "zing", right?



Because it's not about the legality of using the song Joph. It's pure PR. By making a big public statement from the band, it allows Liberals to smugly talk about how recording artists don't like the GOP. In otherwords, exactly what's going on in this thread is exactly the reason it was done...

I missed large chunks of the RNC so my account isn't worth much.

/relieved sigh

Ahhh, I have *always* hated that song. Granted, it fit the whole Palin aggro theme, but I cringed when I heard it played at the RNC. The only thing worse would have been anything from the band Chicago. They suck big brass monkey balls.

Totem

I didn't hear it, but like Joph that doesn't mean much.

Are you saying they didn't use the song at all, gbaji? And how would you know that, exactly?

I can't imagine the RNC is being sued for something that didn't happen at all. If your position is that it was never broadcast and therefore the case will probably be thrown out, that might be reasonable.

Ah. I finally found the incriminating video.

It was in the closing ceremonies thing (after the balloon drop), which explains why I hadn't heard it earlier, and about halfway through. Basically, during the bit where folks are standing on the stage not really doing anything and most people are tuning to another channel...


/shrug

If it had been played as Palin's theme song or something, like when she came on stage for her speech, I could see arguing that it's use was a violation of copyright. Not really sure on this one. It's just one song being played. Happened to be played at that time. Could have been 5 more songs played after that for all I know. If you watched any of the convention, they were constantly playing music in between the speeches. I never gave them much thought either...

It was used right after McCain stood next to Palin immediately after his speech-- right about when Flea mentioned Johnny moving Cindy next to Palin by her hips. Like I said, I cringed when I heard it.

Totem

Okay, fine, "sued" was an error.

I don't see where "circular logic" plays into it, though. The question I asked is, was your point that the song wasn't used at all? or was your point that it wasn't broadcast and therefore might be protected use?

It was a query, not a statement.

Like all the songs playing in the background during a football game? And I'm not talking about the ones they'll play during kickoff and whatnot. The stuff that's constantly playing in the background that's hard to hear in the broadcast, but is very much present if you're at the game.

They don't pay for those. The guy in the booth just plays music while the game is going on. Just like a DJ does. And yeah. It'll often get picked up and broadcast on your TV.


Now in the case of the use of Barracuda, it does appear to have been a timed musical selection. So one can argue it was part of the "program" and *might* fall under copyright rules. Um... Again though. How many people stuck around to see it anyway. I can see Heart making a request just to nip the song's use in the bud (there's a "use it or lose it component to copyright), but I still say the big public statement bit is pure PR...



There's a world of difference between a creative work that includes someone else work, and a broadcast political or sporting "live" event. If the music selection is not a specific part of the show (ie: why people are there) it's not copyright infringement.