Another Aging Rocker Tells a Republican to Stop Using Song
Posted on February 17, 2008
I guess hate is More Than A Feeling for aging rocker Tom Scholz, former member of the band Boston. Scholz, it appears, is none too happy that presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was using his old Boston tune, More Than A Feeling on the campaign trail and he wants him to stop it.
Like John Cougar Mellenkamp — who got his leather pants in a bunch over McCain’s usage of one of his pop tunes — Mr. Scholz is another musician who imagines that people are so stupid that when they hear a song at a campaign rally, they must automatically imagine that the producer of the song supports the candidate in question.
As reported by the AP, Scholz sent a letter to the Huckabee campaign telling Huckabee to dump the song and Don’t Look Back.
“Boston has never endorsed a political candidate, and will all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for,” wrote Scholz, adding that he is supporting Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. “By using my song, and my band’s name Boston, you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I’ve been ripped off, dude!”
Yeah… dude. Good thing he is a guitar player because thinker seems to be out of the question. (I can’t help it, but it just seems a little childish for a 60 some year-old man to be calling people “dudeâ€)
But, here is the thing, Huckabee, a bass guitar player, has actually appeared on stage with a former member of Scholz’ own band. Boston band member Barry Goudreau has jammed with Huckabee in the past, so it is only natural that Huckabee felt he could use the song. After all, he had a member of Boston on stage with him!
Of course, the cantankerous Scholz even seems to claim that his old band mate is somehow not a real member of the band!
Scholz, who said Goudreau left the band more than 25 years ago after a three-year stint, objects to the implication that the band and one of its members has endorsed Huckabee’s candidacy.
I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that Scholz is such an uncivil, “dude,” though. He has a long history of suing people and feuding with band mates. So it isn’t surprising that this guy is in need of some distemper shots.
But, here is the real issue with these has-been rockers getting mad at Republicans who use their songs. Not one person at a campaign rally who hears some old rock standard blaring out of the loudspeakers will imagine that the band that recorded the tune supports the candidate. We Americans have grown up with rock-n-roll as the background music, the soundtrack if you will, to our lives. We hear the songs and we merely enjoy them (or not as the case may be). No further statement is placed into it than that. Do we imagine that if a discjockey plays a tune that the band supports the discjockey? The radio station? Even the city the radio station is in? No would be the answer to that.
So, I’d like to offer Tom Scholz some Peace of Mind. Your music is just entertainment, “dude.” Nobody but you takes it that seriously.
I have to say, though, that I’m glad that Scholz is a Man I’ll Never Be. How about you?
» Filed Under Liberal Media/Bias, News
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8 Responses to “Another Aging Rocker Tells a Republican to Stop Using Song”
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Um, you have to pay to use a song in a public setting like that. Why would a band give a freebie to someone they don’t endorse? It’s entirely up to the band and/or music label as to whether someone can use the music in public.
The only drawback that I have to his being a complete [edited] is that he is actually an electrical engineer with a degree from MIT. Maybe he had a class with Noam Chomsky or something.
“Um, you have to pay to use a song in a public setting like that.”
Nonsense. Go into a bar sometime, or a big league sports event; you’ll almost certainly hear them playing songs they didn’t pay for.
If you use somebody’s music in a commercial venture, or claim it as your own, or reproduce it, that’s another story. But you can drive around blaring Styx out of your van, if you think it’ll help your campaign, without paying a nickel.
Picture Darrell’s vision, it is hilarious. McCain with red bandana around his head and his tattooed arm on the sill of a 1976 Dodge stretch customized van with an airbrushed unicorn next to a bubble window, with “Babe” blaring.
If they are, they’re doing it illegally. I’m sure there are plenty of bars that simply play CDs, but there’s no way a major corporation would take on that liability. CDs are licensed for personal use only.
And you’re right that you can probably claim that your campaign van is for personal use only, but that’s not analagous to this story.
Jeff is “legally” correct. I am a musician and take my music seriously. However, Jeff is incorrect on assuming that people can not play other people’s music at events like this and that it is illegal. The song belongs to the artists that wrote it, and they share it with the public for a profit. If they don’t want their music associated with a certain cause, they have every right to deny it.
I want to make sure I am seeing this clearly however. Did Huckabee jam the song on bass? Because this is a completely different picture altogether if so. Cover bands play other artist’s songs all the time, and have every right to as long as the writer of the song is given due credit. If Huckabee performed the song, there is a completely different argument.
If he is playing it as a campaign rally song, this artist has the right to be a jerk about it.
Actually, everyone is sort of somewhat right and mostly wrong. Bars, stadiums, performing arts centers, etc all normally pay something called an ASCAP fee. This monthly fee allows the venue to play any recorded song they like that has been distributed under the auspices of ASCAP. Bands that play cover songs are allowed to play those cover songs in that venue as a result of the venue paying the ASCAP fee. If the venue does not pay the ASCAP fee, then the band is morally and legally responsible for paying for the 40 or 50 songs they play that night. If they don’t, the music is being played illegally. This also holds true for jukeboxes, DJ’s, bar-owned CD players, etc. Essentially, it covers ANY music played in the bar, stadium, venue, etc. regardless of format and transport media.
If a candidate is paying the ASCAP fee, then they are using the music as it was intended and the author/owner of the music doesn’t really have a legal leg to stand on if they are receiving and cashing their monthly ASCAP check. If they are bitchy enough, most places will stop playing their song, but they don’t really have to. They have the legal right to use it as part of their ASCAP end-user license.
For songs written by one author (say, The Beatles) that another artist records and sells (say, Jeff Healey), the performing artist that wants to sell their version of the original song has to pay an ASCAP fee that is representative of how many copies of the song they expect to sell. In my example, Healey had to pay a LOT of money to distribute his version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” For most small, “local” bands, the costs arent’t that outrageous. For example, if I wanted my band to record and sell 250 copies of our recorded version of Muddy Waters’ Statesboro Blues, it would probably only cost me about 10 or 12 bucks or so (I forget the exact price that I looked up).
Last, monthly ASCAP fees for bars are based on approximately how much time the jukebox is being used, how many nights a week a band plays in the bar, how many people they attract, etc. but aren’t all that high for a bar, restaurant, etc - mostly because it is a recurring fee so it is charged a little differently than what a band trying to actually sell a CD would be charged.
Not that any of this really matters to the topic at hand. Scholz is an idiot, no matter how much money he has made from ASCAP.
“Goudreau left the band more than 25 years”
Scholz is apparently ignoring that Goudreau played guitar on the first two, and best, Boston albums. I can see how Goudreau would not want to hang around for 8 more years waiting for the next album. Then another 8, and another 8.