Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« King County Primary Ballots Start A… | Trending Now »

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

2012 Republicans Keep Stealing Music

Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 10:29 AM

You remember Romney's ad that featured Obama singing Al Green's "Let's Stay Together"from yesterday? This is what happened to that ad last night:

Screen_shot_2012-07-17_at_9.00.51_AM.png

On the one hand, this is a scary reminder that our copyright laws are way too strict. On the other hand, I'm willing to bet that this copyright claim is on behalf of some Obama fans in the music industry who want to make trouble for Romney. (And maybe it's a little bit of the music industry hitting back against Republicans in general, who steal music all the time.) I don't think the copyright claim would hold up in court—this has to be considered fair use—but BMG Rights Management could sure make it difficult for Romney's lawyers.

The primary question would be: Does the song directly relate to the content of the ad? Well, not really. Kinda. Since Romney's people are saying Obama is in bed with donors, his Al Green impersonation would be considered wooing, I guess. I think it's more likely that the Romney team will just drop the ad; it's not very effective and it continues the narrative for the Obama campaign's more effective ad that inspired this one.

FacebookShare

Comments (9) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

I love imagining Al Green leaping into action, instructing his management to stop Romney using it.

Posted by gloomy gus on July 17, 2012 at 11:04 AM

It’s noteworthy that Crown/Random House (Publisher of both Obama’s books, his campaign plan, and Michelle Obama’s new book) is owned by German conglomerate Bertlesmann AG, which also owns BMG.

So, it must just be a coincidence that the company that pulled down Romney’s ad shares a parent company with Obama’s publisher...

The really interesting thing is, that German parent company was also the biggest single producer of Nazi propaganda. Bertelsmann has been forced to admit to having lied about its Nazi past. It made big profits during Adolf Hitler’s reign in Germany using Jewish slave labor.

When is Obama going to explain to America why he would outsource his publishing needs to a multinational conglomerate with ties to Nazi propaganda?

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on July 17, 2012 at 11:18 AM

hey "you gotta be kidding me" - actually, that isn't "really interesting" at all.

Posted by ng53 on July 17, 2012 at 11:23 AM

That has to be both the fastest and the most tenuous Godwin I have ever seen. Kudos.

Posted by Backyard Bombardier on July 17, 2012 at 11:24 AM

So is this You Gotta Be Kidding Me's jumping the shark moment, or has that already happened?

Looking more like Sgt. Doom everyday. Tags for bold are "< b > < /b >" by the way, just in case you need them next time.

Posted by Theodore Gorath on July 17, 2012 at 11:26 AM

It's probably not fair use if Romney didn't secure a sync license. Copyright law hasn't caught up to youtube and you can run into problems when you affix a copyrighted song to a video format.

Posted by dangerousgift on July 17, 2012 at 11:28 AM

This really isn't about fair use then, it is more like a slander case on the part of the artist, since I imagine they would not have the same reaction to a Democrat using this material.

So the artist or his management company is saying, no I don't want my art to be associated with this message.

The question given fair use was not violated is whether such an assertion is possible (oh, and before you reply "well if they really don't want them to use their music, then I don't see why..." try and come up with a relevant response based on law).

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on July 17, 2012 at 11:33 AM

Wow. Only took two comments to a Nazi reference. That has to be a record.

Posted by J from Oregon on July 17, 2012 at 1:34 PM

OK, this post by itself was hilarious, and @2 is just the icing on the cake.

In related news, a fun game can be figuring out which things you own and use were manufactured by companies that were pro-Nazi. Own a VW? (Or a Ford?)

Posted by eptified on July 17, 2012 at 2:30 PM