Legal News

McCain Campaign to Go Heart-less?

By Ashby Jones

Update: Friday afternoon, we heard back from the McCain campaign, which issued the following statement: “The McCain campaign respects intellectual property rights. Accordingly, prior to using ‘Barracuda’ at any events, we paid for and obtained all necessary licenses.”

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Jeez: How many times has this scenario played itself out? A political candidate uses a song, the artist (who doesn’t subscribe to the politician’s beliefs) gets upset and mails off a cease-and-desist letter, the campaign stops playing the song, and the whole thing gets splashed around the Internet?

The latest example: After Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, the McCain campaign cued Heart’s 1977 hit “Barracuda,” in an apparent reference to a nickname Palin picked up as a tough-nosed high-school basketball player. (”You gonna burn burn burn burn it to the wick! Ooooooh, barracuda?”)

Well, apparently Nancy and Ann Wilson, the sisters at the, well, heart of the band, sat up and took notice. Like Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne before them, they didn’t like the campaign’s (apparently) unauthorized use of the song. A cease-and-desist letter followed. Here are stories from CNN.com, the Boston Globe, and Entertainment Weekly.

“We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored,” the group said in a statement, adding that they “condemn” the use of the song at the Republican convention.

Ann Wilson had more to say. In a note to EW, she wrote:

Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image…[It] was written in the late ’70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women…There’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.

LB YouTube Video of the Day: Heart had some great tunes back in the day, including FM radio staples “Crazy On You” and “Magic Man.” But our favorite Heart tune is the lovely 1985 synth ballad “These Dreams.” Click here for four minutes of audio-visual bliss.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 05, 2008 (boomark / email).