
Neil Young’s Suit Illustrates Music Licensing Issues
On August 4, iconic guitarist Neil Young sued the Trump Campaign, claiming that Trump’s unauthorized use of his songs Rockin’ in the Free World and Devil’s Sidewalk at various rallies, including at the Tulsa rally on July 20, violated Young’s copyrights in those songs. In filing his complaint, Young joins an elite crowd of artists who have complained about the purported unauthorized use of songs when the artist and the writer were not otherwise aligned politically. Reagan, GW Bush, and McCain (among others) have all had to defend claims brought by, respectively, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, and Heart suggesting that use of their songs were unauthorized violations of their copyrights (and other rights) in those songs.
Fundamentally, Young claims that he owns the copyrights in the songs used by the campaign and the campaign used them without authorization. Accordingly, he argues that he should be awarded an injunction against continued use, and damages for the prior violations.
These claims have a simple elegance and on their face. But anyone who has dealt with music performance rights and licensing knows that there is almost nothing simple about those concepts. Indeed, the world of music licensing is among the … Keep reading