RNC "honors the wishes" of Heart by playing the song they were told not to play tonight

[Amerigo Vespucci]

http://www.tmz.com/2008/09/04/republicans-lack-heart/

Posted Sep 4th 2008 10:46PM by TMZ Staff

Ann and Nancy Wilson are pissed at the Republican Party and have fired off a cease and desist letter to the McCain/Palin campaign.

Specifically, the Heart women are upset that the GOP has used their classic "Barracuda" as a theme song for Sarah Palin. TMZ obtained a statement from Heart's rep, who says "The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission."

The statement goes on: "We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored."

We're told Ann was watching TV today and heard the song at the convention when Palin was touted.

UPDATE: Twenty minutes after we posted this story, the GOP ended the evening after McCain's speech with the song, "Barracuda."

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Heart should be able to tap in to some of that GOP campaign $$ - SUE the bastards!

[Booster]

2. Hey, they're Republicans - they do what they want.

[DesertRat]

3. Hope she sues the RNC. n/t

[LSparkle]

4. I know several BIG TIME music label heads who were at the DNC ...

As if the RNC needs any reminder, this is an industry
that has SUED people for misusing or pirating their
music ...

They should have just hired a band ... then they would
have just had to deal with paying public performance
royalties.

[onenote]

7. Not sure how Heart could stop it

If they were reproducing their song in an ad, they'd have grounds to sue for infringement. But there is no general right to control public performances of sound recordings and the performance of the underlying composition (the song Barracuda) is subject to blanket licensing through an entity such as ASCAP or BMI.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. I'll bet the fact that it was televised throws a wrench in the public performance thing...

...it then becomes a broadcast, and the RNC certainly does not have free rein to broadcast any copyright song they wish.

But then again, I'm not an attorney, so who knows...

:shrug:

[onenote]

11. i doubt it. TV stations get blanket licenses.

Otherwise they'd have a problem when they showed the halftime show of a football game and the band played a copyrighted song. (To give just one of a zillion possible examples).

[americanstranger]

12. They could make a lawsuit stick by citing precedent, I'll bet.

Springsteen. Mellencamp. Jackson Browne. 'Wayne's World.' Van Halen. And now, Heart.

Blatant disregard for copyright law, with precedent. Here's hoping the Wilson sisters have a 'barracuda' of a lawyer.

- as

[GoesTo11]

14. Can Obama make a compilation album of every song McCain's done this with?

It'd be a pretty good album and a great joke - would be a good story on the news.

[onenote]

16. actually, he could. However, if he wanted to use the original recordings

he'd have to get the permission of the record companies that own the rights to those recordings. If he wanted to the songwriters record new versions of the songs, then he could do so if they consented.

[onenote]

15. as I've tried to explain. Using a song in an ad is different from performing it

And Springsteen and Mellencamp never sued. They objected to the use of their songs and the campaigns decided to stop using them because all they'd get otherwise is more bad publicity.

If you can find precedent for stopping a performance (rather than a reproduction) I'd be very interested in seeing it.

[Lorien]

5. Can you imagine if Hillary had used that as her theme song?

Freeper heads would explode!

[Bjorn Against]

6. Damn, how many times have they gotten in trouble with this now?

I know that other artists have had the same problem with the McCain campaign using their songs without permission. Why doesn't the RIAA come down on McCain as hard as they will come down on a high school kid who downloads some music for his Ipod?

[RollWithIt]

8. Are they seriously pirating crappy music now?

Whit all due respect to Heart of course, who breaks out Barracuda at a party these days?

[Lindsey]

9. Let's see, so far Jackson Brown, Van Halen, and someone else who

I can't remember have issued public statements that they were not asked and would not have given permission for their music to be played with McCain's campaign. I think Jackson Brown is even sueing.

[americanstranger]

13. Springsteen, Mellencamp, Mike Myers.

Frankie Valli for the 'Obama Love' web ad. Fox News for using their footage in campaign ads.

These guys are serial violators. Kids downloading MP3s to their computers have been dragged into court for less.

- as

[kitkat65]

17. I dunno, seems appropriate and unflattering

You lying so low in the weeds
Bet you gonna ambush me
You'd have me down on my knees
Wouldn't you, Barracuda?