Comments on: Running on Empty

By: Bearman

Bearman — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:47:22 +0000

Yes but Robin Williams sung it as Popeye in 1980..haha

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:33:11 +0000

Though Nixon singing “I Am What I Am” would certainly have been funny, the play didn’t open until 1983, just a few months before he died.

By: That Idiot Ivan

That Idiot Ivan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:26:31 +0000

Re #8:
I’m old enough to remember when the Nixon campaign used (I think) “I Am what I Am” from “La Cage au Faux” as their official campaign song .
Nixon.
Made my teeth hurt.

By: Steve T

Steve T — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:55:46 +0000

Apologies are all well and good (it’s easier to ask forgiveness than for permission), but are they going to pay standard royalties on the use of the various songs as well? If not, there’s nothing to stop it from happening again in the next campaign. (cue “Oops, I did it again”)

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:45:21 +0000

All you need are “synchronization rights”. There’s no clearinghouse for sync rights, but what you do is you find a Music Clearance Agency (there are loads of them in NYC and LA) and have them get you the rights — BEFORE you put the commercial on the air.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:17:28 +0000

I’ve read the other responses regarding who actually posted the video and whether or not the McCain campaign actually knew about it, and that may be true. I’d rather like to believe that because Congress always writes the laws but exempts themselves from being subject to them, the campaign just figured that copyright didn’t apply to the Congress-critter in this case either.

By: Daniel J. Drazen

Daniel J. Drazen — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:51:45 +0000

I remember when John Mellenkamp vetoed the Reagan campaign’s use of “Little Pink Houses [Ain’t That America].” Ditto with Springsteen and anyone trying to co-opt “Born In The USA” (which only proves that they didn’t get that the song was about a Vietnam vet coming back to the world and getting screwed over).

Bearman’s explanation sounds the most credible, and the most in keeping with the grasping-at-straws way the McCain-Palin campaign was conducted.

By: jayjaybear

jayjaybear — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:24:04 +0000

It may have been an error, IF the McCain campaign hadn’t done this multiple times during the run-up to the election last year. Multiple artists had to ask the campaign not to continue using their songs without permission. Heart called him on using “Barracuda” for Palin. Rep. John Hall, who was a member of the 70s group Orleans (thus making him the only Congressman in history to have appeared on an album cover naked with four other men), calle him out on using “Still the One”, and Jackson Browne called him out on “Running On Empty”. He also recieved requests from Van Halen, John Mellencamp, the Foo Fighters, and Frankie freakin’ Valli to stop using their songs!

It’s like nobody in the campaign had ever heard of copyright.

By: GP

GP — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:43:14 +0000

I don’t know the specifics here, but you don’t need the permission of the artist, you just need to go through some hoops with the entity that holds the rights to the song, which is often not the artist. Several politicians have used artists’ music without permission, but with the proper rights secured. Artists get mad, but have no legal recourse.

But maybe that’s not what happened here.

By: Dave Van Domelen

Dave Van Domelen — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:10:01 +0000

Also, political ads have long been exempt (either due to the way laws were written, or by custom) from a lot of the usual laws regarding, well, everything.