Maybe RIAA should go after McCain/Palin like they do with so many prepubescent kids who download/steal music off the internet.

What a Maverick(tm)!!

It's not clear that the campaign illegally copied anything. The legal issue would be the right to "perform" the sound recordings, which they may have had. But when an artist asks you to stop exploiting her art for your political purposes, and you continue to do so anyway, that is bullying, legal or not.

I wonder if the Wilson sisters offered to reimburse the licensing fees the McCain campaign paid to use the song?

McCain's using the song will no doubt increase sales of it on iTunes and what not. The Wilson's should simply pledge the increase revenues to the DNC and it would have come across as clever and principled. Instead, they come across as petty and vindictive.

Doesn't the same thing go for his (mis)use of Barbara Ann?

Actually, McCain should use some Petty songs.

Butch, I thought I'd banned you, but you and "ben" are comedy gold.

What's that song about anyway?

Reminds me of the time Reagan was using Born in the USA, which is a song about how f*d up America can be, making it pretty hilarious that the campaign continued to use it.

PS - Obama should be using the Tom Petty lyrics ;-)

And Im free, free fallin
Yeah Im free, free fallin
Free fallin, now Im free fallin, now im
Free fallin, now Im free fallin, now im

(just more of that 'comic gold')

According to Slate, the McCain campaign has been sued by Jackson Browne for failing to obtain the proper license to use his song in an ad. And the McCain campaign voluntarily stopped playing John Mellencamp and Van Halen songs at rallies after they complained.

I often upload my photos on Flickr under a CC-BY license, and some of these have been used by bloggers expressing viewpoints I didn't particularly like. My feeling is that as long at the bloggers follow the license and don't imply that I endorse their viewpoints, I can't reasonably object. Still, I think this dispute is bad PR for the McCain campaign.

The licensing fees the Wilson sisters receive arrive in the form of check from ASCAP; there is no way for them to separate out the portion of that check that came from the McCain Campaign. They don't get an itemized list of who paid what. If such a list exists, it is maintained by ASCAP.

They could offer some amount of money as a symbolic gesture, but why should they? They asked the McCain Campaign to stop playing the song and so they should stop playing it and get his money back ASCAP.

Seems to me the sisters shouldn't have sold their souls to ASCAP if they wanted to reserve the right to veto use of their music on a case-by-case basis. The point is that they did it to make money (imagine that - capitalism!) from their songs via the ASCAP licensing fees, now they want it both ways.

Universal Music Publishing and Sony BMG have sent a cease-and-desist notice to the McCain-Palin campaign, according to CNN.

Who's attempting to bully whom?

that last part should read "they should stop playing it and McCain should get his money back ASCAP."

thx

Who's attempting to bully whom?

Poor, poor John McCain.

First of all, I'm pretty sure this really isn't a Presidential campaign, but a Sasha Cohen (Borat) movie. And we all won't let in on the joke until the movie premieres in Wasilla. At a snowmobile drive-in in the dead of winter.

The democracy will be gone by then, but really isn't entertainment more important than freedom. (To most Americans)

Now, since you're already living in a semi-police state, locked down under a 'freedom enhancing' curfew imposed to insure homeland security after the electorial uprising of '08, would you really want to be be forced to sit through a two hour movie featuring a soundtrack inspired by Republican artistic sensibilities? (And when will these malcontents learn, it's not the vote in the ballot box that count, but the votes on the Sub-prime Court.)

Republicans steal every thing else; a campaign theme here, a bit of music there, what's the difference? Still, it seems to me Blood, Sweat and Tears' "Spinning Wheel" would better capture the tenor of the Republican's incessant whirlwind of policy clarifications and repositionings.

You met the porpoise and me
No right no wrong, selling a song-
A name, whisper game.

If the real thing dont do the trick
You better make up something quick
You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick
Ooooooh, barracuda?

Sounds a bit like her speech at the Wasilla Assembly of God in June.

Well I can't seem to form a complete sentence today...my apologies.

This is off-topic but I also want to apologize for my reaction to *my own misuse* of calvary vs cavalry.

calvary = an experience or occasion of extreme suffering, esp. mental suffering rather.

cavalry = part of a military force composed of troops that serve on horseback.

I used the former when I should have used the latter and then got mad when someone cleverly brought it to my attention. My apologies.

Poor, poor John McCain.

It's all in the intent, now isn't it?

I guess you can't bully a bully, though.

What would Putin do?

Are Palin fans called YupYuppies?

Sounds to me like the McCainiacs need to vet the lyrics of their music selections as well as their candidates and their staff of "former" lobbyists.

This "issue" for the media is about as stupid as McCain's reported "issue" with Obama using the words pig and lipstick in the same sentence.

I know there is only 50 +/- days left before the election, but not all of them are going to have blockbuster stories - the MSM ought to remember that and take a break now and then instead of puffing up garbage like this.

Are Palin fans called YupYuppies?

At this point, I'd say they're called "likely voters".

...and, at his advanced age, McCain is a "Wooly Bully".

sorry

Just when you think they can't go any lower, Republicans evolve from "anti-intellectual" to "anti-intellectual-property."

Sounds to me like the McCainiacs need to vet the lyrics of their music selections as well as their candidates and their staff of "former" lobbyists.

I love how the Palin pick upset the liberals. Because McCain made the perfect choice that you guys didn't like, you keep saying 'she wasn't properly vetted'. If anyone wasn't properly vetted it was Obama, and the Dems know it.

If they wanted to control their little song in perpetuity then they oughtn't have sold it out for the filthy lucre. Can't have it both ways.

"Just when you think they can't go any lower, Republicans evolve from "anti-intellectual" to "anti-intellectual-property.""

Incorrect.

Reading the article would have told you that they obtained license from the IP holder to play the song in a public venue. That's what ASCAP does - grant license for public replay of music.

They paid the license fee, and they are using their license. I'd be curious if the performer's contract with their record label actually allows them to say who can and can't play their content - after all, this was recorded in 1977, a good 20 years before the MP3 era.

It would be the courteous and responsible thing to honor the artists' wishes; however unless the Wilsons present something a bit stronger than "because we said so" they are under absolutely no legal obligation to do so.

In all honesty, this world would be a far better place if they WERE "anti-intellectual property" because then obstructions to innovation like software patents and the DMCA would be thrown out, and we could get back to progressing technologically; rather than having IBM and Microsoft playing the "mutually assured patent lawsuit destruction" game they are, and destroying countless small developers in the process of protecting their patent arsenals.

That's probably best left for a different discussion though.

The article I read said that the GOP is paying the use fee under a "blanket use agreement." Same article quoted the guitarist for Heart, cannot remember his name, as saying he would be donating his royalties from the use of Barracuda to the Obama campaign. I do love sweet irony.

Surely McCain would do better to pick a theme song from the oeuvre of Wierd Al Yankovic.

"Legal" is not = to "Right"

It's pointless to argue about this topic with people that refuse to recognize a difference.

The rebuttal of "But it's leeeee-gal...!", while technically true, proves nothing.

I agree with Annie et al, if I were McCain I wouldn't be playing the song of an artist that didn't support me. I imagine it'd be really difficult to find any songs if he were to do that, as most musicians are extremely liberal. I guess that public assistance really helps when they're starving, just before their big breaks ;)