Give Trump a Break (on His Campaign Music, at Least)
The artists who keep complaining about his use of their songs want to have it both ways.
He makes them feel like dancing.
Photographer: Jonathan Bachman/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Musicians and their lawyers have been regularly telling Donald Trump to stop using their songs at his campaign events. The Rolling Stones, R.E.M., the members of Queen, the O’Jays and the estate of Luciano Pavarotti, for example, said the use of their work was unauthorized, and threatened to sue or explore other legal options.
Here’s the key: Under U.S. copyright law, campaigns can use music as much as they want at their events without explicit permission of the artist, so long as they have purchased a “blanket license” from performance-rights organizations like the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as Ascap, and Broadcast Music Inc., or BMI.