Thursday, October 9, 2008

GOP anti-property rights playlist: Update #2

The hits just keep on getting ripped off.

Here's the latest song to be used at GOP campaign events against the wishes (and without the permission) of the artists who hold the intellectual property rights:


Song: Foo Fighters' "My Hero"

GOP campaign wanting it: McCain/Palin 2008

Lyric making it an unlikely choice for a GOP campaign: "There goes my hero / Watch him as he goes / There goes my hero / He's ordinary"

Other warning signs: The first two groups on the "causes" page of the band's web site are Howard Dean's Democracy for America and the Center for American Progress project Campus Progress.

Quote: (from a statement released by the band) "The saddest thing about this is that 'My Hero' was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential. […] To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song."

Did GOP have permission to use it? No.

Did they use it anyway? Yes.


At this point we've got enough songs on this playlist that a shrewd promoter (either of music or political campaigns) should secure the rights and release them in CD/download format as a Democratic fundraiser.

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