In the United States The use of music in political campaigns is subject to copyright laws and licensing agreementsIn general, venues for political rallies have blanket licenses from collecting societies such as ASCAP And Body Mass Index.

This Licenses allow the performance of numerous copyrighted works, including songs played at ralliesFor this reason, campaigns often rely on these licenses to defend against claims of copyright infringement, even if the artist objects to the use of their music.

A notable case occurred when Neil Young filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign for the unauthorized use of his song “Rockin’ in the Free World”.

What artists can do to defend their music

Artists have several options to object to the use of their musicThey may argue that using their song implies support for the candidate, which may cause consumer confusion – a violation of the Lanham Act, which regulates trademarks.

In many cases Artists are simply asking campaigns to stop using their musicand some politicians comply with these requests. However, Donald Trump received numerous cease-and-desist orders and often continued to use the music despite objections.