The Politics of Music

You may have heard/read elsewhere that GOP VP pick Sarah Palin is nicknamed "Barracuda," apparently from her high school days. Somewhat naturally, then, during her GOP convention roll out last week, the Heart tune "Barracuda" got played in the hall for her. This was much to the displeasure of Ann and Nancy Wilson, the sisters who are the heart of Heart (so to speak), who are not fans of the GOP. So, what can they do about it? Not much:

Like thousands of other songs, 'Barracuda' is distributed by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, meaning that any entity that is licensed with ASCAP can play a song without getting the artist's explicit permission. This license can be held by a venue, like a club or a sports arena, and apply to all events that take place there. In this case, the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., would be the holder, but a representative tells the Explainer that the venue's ASCAP license applies only to sporting events for the Minnesota Wild and the Minnesota Swarm, the professional hockey and lacrosse teams, respectively; otherwise, it's up to the people who use the premises to get their own. A spokesperson for the Republican Convention said the event did have an ASCAP license separate from the one for sports.

That's probably that, as far as the convention goes. But if the GOP want to use the tune in ads, the Wilson sisters might have a better shot:

While an ASCAP license covers the right to perform a song, you need a separate 'synchronization license' from the publisher to put the song in an ad. Some artists ask for stipulations in their contracts with publishers that prevent their songs from being used for political advertisements or any other causes they find objectionable.

All of this confusion stems from a "common practice" that Robert Fripp has described as "always questionable, often improper, and is now indefensible" - that artists generally sign over rights to their music to record companies and publishing companies. That's changed recently, in some respects, but for the classic rock tracks that politicians always seem to appropriate it's the status quo.