An all-star list of artists have signed a letter demanding that politicians get clearance on the music they play at campaign rallies and other public events.
The letter from the Artist Rights Coalition was sent to the Democratic and Republican National, Congressional, and Senatorial committees and was signed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, R.E.M., Lorde, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Lionel Richie, Pearl Jam, Green Day and many more.
The letter calls for party committees to “establish clear policies requiring campaigns to seek consent of featured recording artists, songwriters and copyright owners before publicly using their music in a political or campaign setting.”
It adds, “As artists, activists and citizens, we ask you to pledge that all candidates you support will seek consent from featured recording artists and songwriters before using their music in campaign and political settings. This is the only way to effectively protect your candidates from legal risk, unnecessary public controversy and the moral quagmire that comes from falsely claiming or implying an artist’s support or distorting an artists’ expression in such a high stakes public way.”
