John McCain: Jackson Browne Used Me

John McCain is returning Jackson Browne's August lawsuit complaining about McCain using his song "Running on Empty" during his campaign by claiming Browne is just trying drum up publicity for his own album, reports TMZ.

McCain's lawyers filed a response, saying Jackson complained so he could get press to promote his new album, which came out a month later.

J-Mac also makes the argument he could use the tune whenever and where he wants because he was running for Prez, not trying to make a buck off it. If the court buys this "political speech as public interest" claim, it pretty much means curtains for a bunch of other musicians who were PO'd about their songs being used by the GOP.

The list of other acts mad at McCain for playing their songs includes Van Halen, Heart, Foo Fighters and more.

Comments

[mma0930]

Old grumpy grandpa mad at the neighbor kid

[Eidolas]

Are you kidding? Browne is almost as old as McCain, lol.

[NationalTreasure]

it is all in the mindset and McCain's mindset is 19th century

Jackson Browne is planted firmly n the 21st century

[deeppeace]

Yeah, like McCain's use of Browne's music was going to HELP promote the CD? Not likely.

[Moshe]

Lots of people say that John (but usually they are women).

[Tex88]

As LTSTUDIOS so CLEARLY pointed out...

"...songs, like motion pictures or novels, are COPYRIGHTED BY THE ARTIST. As such Jackson Browne's song "RUNNING ON EMPTY" is clearly COPYRIGHTED and therefore, unless the McCain campaign asked permission to use the song and PAID the proper fees for it use Mr. Browne would have every right to file suite for violation of his copyright under United States Copyright Law. Being a political figure does NOT allow you to violate the copyright of any artist. End of case."

As another member of the music industry I have to add - END OF STORY...

[SeconLine]

Exactly

McCain was running for a JOB where he gets PAID.

This was no charity event.

[OkieIntellectual]

Exactly what I was going to say. Perhaps RIAA could step in and despence some justice as they have with all the other co-called copyright violation cases.

[sherpeace]

Thank you for setting us atraight on the law. We also might mention that Jackson Browne is about as liberal as they come. He used to do concerts for the Sandinista gotvt. in Nicaragua. There is no way in h*ll he would ever want to be associated with the GOP. I hope he wins so all the other musicians can bring their suits to court too. Why on earth would it not occur to either party to get permission (in writing) before playing someone's song on Network TV?
By the way, is anyone else dissapointed with Gary Sinise's wholehearted support of the GOP?

[something81]

i'm sorry, but the fact that you took the time to write that is great! is he gonna be mad if i like his song too!! ooooo the big bad man used my song name!! oooo!!!!

[LS1958]

I have a friend who owned a small coffee shop in a small town and got a visit from an ASCAP representative, who said she could be sued because she was playing CDs on a sound system without permission.

Nobody should get a pass, royalties and permissions are how musicians and artists make a living.

[Zofomofo]

Once again, McCain takes the high ground.

[miles120]

Yes, the high ground of stealing artistic work. Hey, does anyone know if Senator McCain supported the last copyright extension - favored by Disney - to keep older works from going into the public domain? Now THAT would be ironic.

[AngerAndDetermination]

No, he was trying to pull the Jedi mind trick, which Republicans normally rely upon when they first get caught. This is the order of Republican denial: Step One:
The Republican says dismissively

"This is desperation. There is no story here."

Step Two: When everyone finds out that the Republican is lying (as usual), and that there is a story, the Republican says:

"My accuser is the real bad guy. Let me tell you some things that he has done." Then he opens up the Republican swift-boat machine full throttle.

Step Three: The Republican claims entrapment, that the whole thing was a setup by _Democrats_ to get the Republican to commit the crime, solely to take advantage of it afterwards.

Step Four: When that fails to get people to leave him alone, the lying Republican concocts elaborate legal arguments as to why, when he does it, it is not a crime.

Step Five: When that fails, the Republican claims that he should not be punished because "everybody does it."

[jazkiljok]

There are no quality, innately interesting, crowd rocking patriot songs- they just don't exist (with maybe the exception of South Park duo's "america fxxk yeah!" which gets no play for obvious reasons) --so candidates are left to using anything that remotely ties to their message or to get the crowd up-- most of these popular rock songs are misappropriated (classic being Born in the USA at Reagan rallies) and, like there use in ads, ironic and weird most of the time.

But is it fair use? Does a candidate using the song in a public or private gathering have the right to play anything they like? How far can artists go determining where their songs (assuming they were bought on CDs or iTunes) can be played? If Jackson Browne hates your guts, can he interrupt your wedding to demand the band or dj stop playing one of his tunes cause he doesn't want his song associated with your nuptials? Can he stop it at the local malls cause he hates Nordstrom's? How far would this decision reach?

[OkieIntellectual]

Actually yes he could come to your wedding or the local mall & do that, provided that the offending party did not legally accquire licensing rights.

Bottom line, the McCain camp used Browne's song specifically to promote the campaign and the candidate, therefore taking their use of the song soundly out of the realm of "typical private entertainment use." If the campaign didn't pay the requisite fees to license the use of the song for such commercial purposes, then Mr. Browne is absolutely correct to bring suit against the GOP.

[sherpeace]

That is just plain stupid! These are no comparison with playing a song without permission to support a candidate that is being viewed by millions of people!

[weareas1]

In fact, anyone can use any recording they like for this purpose (playing music in a live venue, as opposed to a "sync license" for film, TV, or computer media), as long as they pay the appropriate royalties to the songwriter's clearance organization (usually ASCAP or BMI). Permission from the artist and/or writer is neither required, nor can it be easily denied by the artist. I'm kind of shocked that the McCain camp didn't simply pay the few hundred dollars they would have owed to Jackson Browne's organization, and then be done with it.

BTW, I thought that McCain's use of "Running on Empty" was hilarious! Unintentionally ironic, I'd say.

[TheNoBullExpress]

I love the smell of McCain bashing in the morning

(OK, so I get up at the crack of noon)

[applescruff]

What about all the other artists that were threatening legal action Johnny boy. they all didn't have CDs coming out. They just didn't want you to use their art to promote your "cause"..

[Badbone]

McCain lost. Put it to rest already. What's next, obssessing about Palin?

[elspeth1031]

McCain's the one keeping this issue alive by counter-suing.

[sherpeace]

EXACTLY!

[DoctorGee]

The most delicious misuse of an artist's song in a political campaign was early in Hillary Clinton's first Senatorial run. At a rally, the Billy Joel song "New York State of Mind" was supposed to be played. Great song, New York connection, seems like a logical choice, right?

Instead, Joel's song "Captain Jack" came blaring out of the sound system. If you're not familiar with the tune, there are lyrics that allegedly reference heroin use ("Captain Jack will get you by tonight. Just a little push, and you'll be smiling.")

Plus the lyrics definitely reference masturbation ("Your sister's gone out - she's on a date. And you just sit home and masturbate").

Too funny...yo­u just can't make stuff like this up!

[hortonhearsawho]

Go tell it to Rosie Palm senator mccain.

[ohioan73]

Running on Empty makes me think of Forrest Gump jogging across America or a working-class man reminiscing about his youth in the carefree 60s. Its about as relevant to the GOP as Springsteen's Born in the USA that was hijacked by the Reagan campaign in 84. They just grab up any song they think dumb people will rally around as if we don't know the lyrics and what the song means. I still cannot figure out how they utilized Eye of the Tiger. "Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past.....r­ising up to the challenge of our rivals.."? Sounds like the last determined fight of a dying man. Bad music choice. The GOP sucks at relating to people through rock n roll.

[roshni]

Also, McCain played Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline at his rallies.
Neil Diamond is a life-long democrat.

[weareas1]

Neil Diamond also claims to have written Sweet Caroline as a tribute to Caroline Kennedy. It doesn't get much more Democrat than that.

[sherpeace]

Or through any other medium for that matter. In fact, they can't relate to the majority of Americans at all! Too bad for them that young people are going to be voting from now on!

[wtheman]

2 years on the campaign trail allowed John McCain's true dickiness to shine through.

[wolfmanman]

If McCain wins on this one, the precedence it sets has huge implications. If "public service" constitutes a warrant for consequence-free open license to commercial media, it basically grants free license to any film maker or organization to use whatever they want to promote movies/doc­umentaries­/public performances containing what they believe to be an "important message for the public", regardless as to whether its an Al Gore or Micheal Moore documentary, a swift-boat style ad, or a pro-"clean-coal" ad.

[ohioan73]

I don't think they want to go down that slippery slope. Musicians are having hard enough time protecting their creative rights as it is. If McCain wins this case, it will open a floodgate of copyright violations on all kinds of intellectual property.