Foo Fighters say they did not OK Trump using "My Hero" at Arizona rally, will donate royalties to Harris-Walz campaign
www.cbsnews.com
Former President Donald Trump played the band's song "My Hero" when he welcomed former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a rally in Arizona on Friday.

Former President Donald Trump has drawn the ire of another musical group for unauthorized use of their music. This time, it’s the Foo Fighters.

Trump played the band’s song “My Hero” when he welcomed former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a rally in Arizona on Friday[…]

[…]The spokesperson added that any royalties received as a result of the Trump campaign’s use of the song will be donated to the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz.

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1201·
    26 days ago

    When commenting on the Trump campaign’s use of “My Hero,” a spokesperson for the band told CBS News on Saturday: “Foo Fighters were not asked permission and if they were, they would have not granted it.”

    The spokesperson added that any royalties received as a result of the Trump campaign’s use of the song will be donated to the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz.

    Haha. There go my heroes.

    But seriously, that’s a great middle finger towards Trump. I still remember how quite a few artists seemed intimidated to speak out against conservatives in the mid-noughties (the whole Iraq invasion fiasco). It’s good to see many artists today defiantly standing up to conservative hate-mongers.

      • prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works
        32·
        25 days ago

        Actually they learned a valuable lesson about “their base” and it’s part of the reason they’re not “the Dixie” chicks anymore.

        • Queen HawlSera@lemm.eeEnglish
          32·
          25 days ago

          Yeah, but I really wish they kept the Dixie part of their name as it refers to a geographical location and not the institution of slavery.

          The demonization of the south really bugs me as someone from North Carolina.

          Plus “The Chicks” is kinda generic

          • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            3·
            25 days ago

            As someone living in GA and previously lived in Florida and also being parked skinned, the assumptions of the south are indeed not always correct… but enough stuff is happening in these places that I gotta say it’s much lower in my list of priorities. Let’s get some of this nasty stuff gone before getting upset about stereotypes. I do think I agree with your statement of the name though.

    • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
      182·
      25 days ago

      Brendon Urie did it 4 years ago when he outright told Trump to fuck off and stop playing High Hopes at his rallies.

  • anon6789@lemmy.world
    35·
    26 days ago

    ASCAP nicely has a whole page set up to ELI5 the licensing of music for political events.

    I always had a lot of assumptions, but this breaks it down very nicely.

    What music is covered by the ASCAP license for political campaigns?

    The ASCAP political campaign license agreement provides a blanket license to perform any or all of the millions of musical works in the ASCAP repertory. However, ASCAP members may ask us to exclude some or all of their works from a particular political campaign’s license. In that event, ASCAP will notify the campaign of the excluded works.

    If the campaign events are properly licensed, can the campaign still be criticized or even sued by an artist for playing their song at an event?

    Yes. If an artist is concerned that their music has been associated with a political campaign, he or she may be able to take legal action even if the campaign has the appropriate performance licenses. The campaign could potentially be in violation of other laws, unrelated to music licensing:

    1. The artist’s Right of Publicity, which in many states provides image protection for famous people or artists

    2. The Lanham Act, which covers confusion or dilution of a trademark (such as a band or artist name) through its unauthorized use

    3. False Endorsement, where use of the artist’s identifying work implies that the artist supports a product or candidate

    As a general rule, a campaign should be aware that, in most cases, the more closely a song is tied to the “image” or message of the campaign, the more likely it is that the recording artist or songwriter of the song could object to the song’s usage by the campaign.

      • anon6789@lemmy.world
        7·
        25 days ago

        Not quite, but you could say they’re the dogs of enforcing royalties! Har har!

        I’m bad at telling if people are serious or not, so I’ll give a real answer too.

        ASCAP is the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. You’re on lemmy.ca, so in Canada, the equivalent is SOCAN, Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. Their front page gives a pretty good run down of the purpose of these organizations.

        Basically they enforce copyright and royalties collection. They license copyright music for public use and distribute that money to artist, somewhat like a brick and mortar Spotify for people hosting public events or social settings.

  • formergijoe@lemmy.world
    7·
    26 days ago

    “The spokesperson added that any royalties received as a result of the Trump campaign’s use of the song will be donated to the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz.”

    So… they won’t be donating any money to the Harris/Walz campaign?

    • Revan343@lemmy.ca
      51·
      26 days ago

      It’ll just require a lawsuit first. So I guess they’ll donate it to the Harris Walz 2028 campain

  • Dorkyd68@lemmy.world
    17·
    25 days ago

    I love how the right idolize certain rock bands having no clue that 99.9% are left leaning. Especially the ones that talk about ragtm, syoad etc, like they are rad left if anything

  • Reygle@lemmy.world
    37·
    26 days ago

    The irony of a band that once fundraised for an AIDS denialist group distancing themselves from Trump speaks volumes.

      • Reygle@lemmy.world
        3·
        25 days ago

        They’re dumb. They’re so dumb they raised money for AIDS denialists. Even THEY don’t buy Trump’s bs. Even THEY are smarter.

  • hOrni@lemmy.world
    32·
    26 days ago

    He should have learned by now. If He wants to use a song, check if it was recorded by Kid Rock. If not, don’t use it.