Campaign Songs and Celebrity Endorsements
One of the biggest hits of the ‘70s was Boston’s "More Than a Feeling," a song that gets airplay on Classic Rock stations today. The founder of the band Tom Scholz wrote the song and played all of the guitar tracks when it was recorded. Understandably, he feels a personal connection to the song. When Mike Huckabee started using the song at campaign rallies, sometimes playing the bass line with a guest appearance by a former member of Boston, he drew the ire of Mr. Scholz who wrote to Mr. Huckabee to protest his use of the song.
The letter doesn’t claim copyright infringement – undoubtedly the campaign had acquired the necessary performance license (which is obtained from a licensing group independent of the artists). Instead Mr. Scholz claimed that because the song was so closely associated with him Mr. Huckabee’s use of the song amounted to an implied endorsement. In an interview with the Associated Press Stolz stated: “Whenever a campaign uses a well-known song there is some inference of support” by the band or artist.
Earlier this year John Mellencamp wrote Mr. McCain’s campaign and asked him to stop playing "Pink Houses" and "Our Country." In 1984 Bruce Springsteen may have started the trend by demanding that Ronald Reagan’s campaign stop using his song "Born in the U.S.A."
ISo what do you do if the artist won’t cooperate? If you are Young & Rubicam you might hire a "sound alike" singer and tell her to imitate the original song. This is what they did for Ford in 1985. Bette Midler refused to allow the use of "Do You Want to Dance" for a Ford commercial. Undeterred, Young & Rubicam hired a former backup singer of Bette Midler’s and told her to sing exactly as Bette Midler did. Apparently she was very good because at trial a number of well qualified people testified that they thought Midler was singing on the Ford ad. Although Young & Rubicam had a license from the copyright holder they lost at trial. The Court held against Ford not because of any copyright issues but because "To impersonate her voice is to pirate her identity." Midler v. Ford, 849 F.2d 460, 463 (9th Cir. 1988).
Of course there is more than one way to skin a cat. There are some celebrities who don’t stand a chance of winning a case in an American court, and for them you don’t need consent. For a unique celebrity endorsement follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEbtEwm1SLw to see Fidel Castro endorse Stoh’s Light.