Politicians Love Their Music. The Musicians Don’t Always Love Them Back.

livemint.com:

Music can jazz up a political campaign—until the artist wants out. GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy courted trouble with the rapper Eminem when he spit an offbeat rendition of “Lose Yourself" in Iowa last month. Like other outraged musicians, Eminem through his representatives sent the campaign a cease-and-desist letter.

Candidates have a long tradition of playing songs at events in an attempt to look cool or to offer hints about their approach or platform. Artists, however, don’t always want to be pulled into campaigns—especially when their politics don’t align. The result can be embarrassing or even lead to a legal spat.

In a 1984 speech during his re-election campaign, Ronald Reagan name-checked Bruce Springsteen, whose working-class anthems had struck a chord. Reagan said the music offered a hopeful message about the American dream. Springsteen pushed back against that characterization.

One of his most famous songs, “Born in the U.S.A.," released that year, carries a dour message about suffering Vietnam War veterans that belies its cheerful sound. Political hopefuls typically get a music license for a catalog of songs they can play at campaign events. Similarly, radio station owners, grocery stores and others pay for blanket licenses to use certain songs.

Songwriters and music publishers who own copyrights can remove their tracks from a license agreement. Politicians often, but don’t always, listen to those requests. They can invite lawsuits by continuing to use excluded songs.

“This all gets very complicated," said Marc D. Ostrow, a senior counsel at Romano Law in New York who focuses on the music industry. The pop-rock band Orleans has been pulled into campaigns that its founder, John Hall, didn’t care for.