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Maren Morris went through a scary time period after she called out Morgan Wallen three years ago, especially where her young son was concerned. In a new interview on the Work in Progress podcast posted Thursday (Aug. 29), the 34-year-old musician opened up about the backlash she received immediately after slamming the “Last Night” singer […]
08/30/2024
In just a matter of days, the politician was told off by Beyoncé, Foo Fighters and Jack White.
08/30/2024
Musicians and songwriters don’t tend to agree on much, but many of them want former president Donald Trump to stop playing their music at his political rallies and campaign events. Whether they can is a quadrennial quandary. The legal answer is yes, at least for songwriters: The big two U.S. performing rights organizations (PROs), ASCAP and BMI, require political campaigns to buy special licenses, from which rightsholders can pull specific works. (The other two, SESAC and GMR, do not issue campaign licenses but can make songs available.) But campaigns don’t always honor those requests.
The use of pop music in campaigns goes back at least a century: Franklin D. Roosevelt used “Happy Days Are Here Again” in his 1932 campaign, and Louisiana governor Jimmie Davis, also a singer, used “You Are My Sunshine,” to which he owned the copyright but did not write. Over the last decade, though, as politics has become more polarizing and pop culture has taken over life in the U.S., this has gone from a subject of occasional interest to one that gets considerable mainstream attention.
In most cases, the unauthorized use of music at a campaign event follows a sort of script: A candidate uses a song and musicians or writers have their lawyers send a cease and desist letter, partly because some campaigns will respect it but often because it’s just a good way to communicate their disapproval in public. How much do I dislike Trump? Enough to have my lawyer write a letter! Some musicians have these letters written, even though a public performance license for an event is only required for a composition, not a recording. Approval is only needed from musicians if the use of music implies an endorsement or involves video, which requires a separate synch license from a song’s publisher.
Now a few recent cases are making this issue more complicated. In mid-August, the estate of Isaac Hayes filed a lawsuit against Trump and his campaign for regularly using “Hold On, I’m Coming” as “outro” music at campaign events. (The estate is suing for copyright infringement, as well as under the Lanham Act, which would cover an implied endorsement, and there will be an emergency hearing in the case on Sept. 3.) Beyoncé has warned the Trump campaign about its use of her song “Freedom,” which has become a theme song for vice president Kamala Harris. And the Foo Fighters objected to the Trump campaign’s use of their song “My Hero” as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took the stage to endorse Trump. (They have not sued.)
It seems like an accident of legal history that those three examples fall under the same law as playing a song during an hourlong wait for a candidate to take the stage. In the latter case, no involvement or endorsement is implied — the songs are just used as background music. These cases are different, though. The Hayes estate’s lawsuit claims Trump has used “Hold On, I’m Comin’” 134 times, often as “outro” music, which arguably makes it something of a theme. Beyoncé’s “Freedom” has become identified with the Harris campaign, which uses it with permission. And the Trump campaign used the Foo Fighters song to soundtrack a particular moment, knowing that it would spread widely on video, even though the campaign didn’t have a license for that.
These songs haven’t just been played in public — they have arguably been drafted into service for a cause the writers don’t agree with. “Hold On, I’m Comin’” has been played at Trump events both often and purposefully. Beyoncé should have the right to be identified with the candidate she wants to win. And the Foo Fighters song shows up in news coverage and online video, with the implication that Kennedy is some kind of hero for endorsing Trump.
Although we think of the use of music as a copyright issue involving a public performance, there’s more going on in all three of these cases. The current license system seems to work fine for the way campaigns use music at events in the background. But it would be nice if campaigns could agree with rightsholders, or even with one another, to get permission if a song is used in a way that will identify it with the candidate — and especially if it’s used for a moment that will be widely shared on video. This doesn’t necessarily follow legal logic, but it seems like common sense: If a campaign deliberately selects a song like “My Hero” to soundtrack a moment that is essentially designed to spread on video, doesn’t it make sense to get a video license? Who are we kidding?
Until the situation changes, creators will just keep objecting to the unauthorized use of their work — and they are starting to do so in more creative ways. The Foo Fighters have said they will donate the royalties from Trump’s use of “My Hero” to the Harris campaign. While the Hayes estate’s lawsuit goes forward, it might point out that although “Hold On, I’m Comin’” is played regularly at rallies — it was even rewritten as “Hold On! Edwin’s Coming” for the campaign of Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards — the song gets its name from what co-writer David Porter said to Hayes from the Stax Studios bathroom. If Trump isn’t using the restroom, perhaps another song might work better.
Politicians who use songs with permission also have some bragging rights. Tim Walz can say that Neil Young allowed him to use “Rockin’ in the Free Word” at the Democratic National Convention — an odd choice given the song’s sarcastic lyrics, but still great cred from a music icon. Harris can say the real “Freedom” is hers — and Beyoncé’s support with it. And we can all wait to see who Taylor Swift will endorse.
Swifties for Kamala is having anything but a cruel summer when it comes to fundraising for the Harris-Walz campaign.
According to a graphic shared by the Taylor Swift fan-led organization’s X account Thursday (Aug. 29), Swifties for Kamala has raised a total of $144,000 for the Democratic ticket so far. Just two days prior, the group held a Zoom event, with 34,000 people attending the call — including Carole King and Sen. Sen. Elizabeth Warren — resulting in 41,000 voters checking their registration as a result of the group’s efforts.
“But we were making it count …,” the group wrote, referencing a lyric from the 14-time Grammy winner’s Folklore track “The 1.” “Thank you to everyone who made our kickoff such a success!”
“We’ve seen the good we can do as a fandom and what happens when we mobilize our community,” Swifties for Kamala cofounder and executive director Irene Kim told NBC News on Wednesday. “We personally know what our values are. We also know what Taylor’s values are. She’s made them very clear to us.”
According to NBC News, a large majority of the funds raised thus far — $122,000 — was collected during the Zoom event.
Swift herself is not affiliated with Swifties for Kamala, nor has she publicly endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz despite backing Joe Biden’s 2020 White House bid — but according to the movement’s leaders, that’s not a problem. “We’re not trying to make her do anything — we do not speak for Taylor,” 29-year-old Kim explained in a recent interview with Cosmopolitan. “Our movement is about the power of our community and how we can mobilize together.”
Though the “Anti-Hero” artist is not yet among them, dozens of musicians have thrown their support behind Harris since Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed her as the Democratic nominee instead. King has been vocal about her support for the VP from the beginning, and while serving as a guest speaker on the Swifties for Kamala call, she sang a surprise cover of “Shake It Off” and encouraged those in attendance to volunteer for Harris’ campaign.
“If any of you are thinking of volunteering to be door knockers or phone callers, but you’re a little nervous about what you might say, please believe me, you will be working with an organizer who will give you steps,” she told the virtual crowd, adding that she sees Swift as her “musical and songwriting granddaughter.”
Elsewhere in the call, Warren revealed that her two favorite Taylor Swift songs are “Karma” and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).” “What I love best about Swifties, you are resilient and you know how to take on bullies,” the politician added. “You come together hand-to-hand, friendship bracelets on your wrists and you overcome pretty much anything that life throws at you. The Kamala Harris campaign is standing up for what’s right in the face of bullies like Donald Trump.”
See Swifties for Kamala’s post below.
But we were making it count … Thank you to everyone who made our kickoff such a success! Already, #SwiftiesForKamala has raised $144k for the Harris-Walz campaign! In the last 24 hours, over 41,000 of you (and your friends) have checked your registration through FanOut 🗳️ pic.twitter.com/wukF6J0sJ0— Swifties For Kamala (@Swifties4Kamala) August 29, 2024
Marilyn Manson has launched an appeal seeking to revive his defamation lawsuit against ex-fiance Evan Rachel Wood, arguing a lower judge who dismissed much of the case ignored key evidence.
Manson (real name Brian Warner) sued Wood in 2022, claiming she had “secretly recruited, coordinated, and pressured” women to make false abuse allegations against him. But a Los Angeles judge tossed out most of the case in a ruling last year.
That ruling came under California’s anti-SLAPP statute — a law that aims to make it easier for judges to quickly dismiss cases that threaten free speech. Wood’s lawyers claimed Manson’s case was exactly that: a prominent musician using a lawsuit to try to silence someone speaking out about alleged abuse.
But in an appeal lodged on Tuesday, Manson’s lawyers argued that a lower judge had repeatedly misapplied that statute to prematurely end a valid lawsuit that had been aimed at exposing a “malicious campaign” by Wood and others.
“This is an appeal of an order granting two anti-SLAPP motions, in which the trial court rubber-stamped Defendants’ assertions of ‘protected activity’ before weighing and disregarding evidence to conclude that plaintiff Brian Warner could never prevail,” his attorneys write.
Manson also claims that the judge ignored key elements of the case, including “bombshell” testimony from another Manson accuser named Ashley Morgan Smithline, who says she “succumbed to pressure” from Wood to make “untrue” accusations against the singer.
Wood strongly denied those allegations, and the judge ultimately refused to consider Smithline’s testimony because it had been filed far past a key deadline for submitting evidence. In Wednesday’s appeal, Manson’s lawyers say that was a clear and reversible error.
“The trial court prioritized convenience over the core function of the anti- SLAPP statute, which is to dispose of truly meritless suits before discovery,” Manson’s lawyers write.
Wood is one of several women to accuse Manson of serious sexual wrongdoing over the past several years. Manson has denied all of the allegations, and many of the lawsuits filed against him have since been dropped, dismissed or settled.
Manson filed the current lawsuit against Wood in March 2022, accusing her and a woman named Illma Gore of launching an “organized attack” that had derailed his career. His lawyer said the women had carried out “a campaign of malicious and unjustified attacks.”
But Wood quickly fought back, moving to strike Manson’s case under the anti-SLAPP law: “For years, plaintiff Brian Warner raped and tortured defendant Evan Rachel Wood and threatened retaliation if she told anyone about it,” her attorneys wrote. “Warner has now made good on those threats by filing the present lawsuit.”
In May 2023, Judge Teresa A. Beaudet largely granted that motion, ruling that Manson had not sufficiently shown that he would ultimately be able to prove many of those accusations against Wood, including that she had been “pressuring multiple women to make false accusations,” as well as the allegation that she had forged a letter from the FBI.
Anti-SLAPP laws, which exist in states across the country, work by putting more burden than usual on defamation plaintiffs like Manson, forcing them to clearly show at the outset that their case is legitimate. In last year’s decision, Judge Beaudet said Manson had failed to do so.
“The court does not find that plaintiff has demonstrated a probability of prevailing on his [intentional infliction of emotional distress] claim based on the FBI Letter,” the judge wrote, referring to one of Manson’s specific legal claims.
The CIA says that the suspects in the alleged plot to attack Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour shows in Vienna, Austria were aiming to create a massive casualty event involving a “huge” number of victims. The information came during a briefing on Wednesday (August 28) from CIA deputy director David Cohen, who, according to the Associated Press, said that his agency discovered intelligence that helped to disrupt the planning and led to the arrests of the three young suspects.
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Cohen discussed the foiled plot during the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit in Maryland, noting that the CIA informed Austrian authorities of the plan that resulted in Swift cancelling three planned shows in Vienna earlier this month after officials allegedly found links between the suspects and the Islamic State group.
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“They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this,” Cohen said. “The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”
The New York Times reported that Cohen did not say how the CIA learned about the planned attack and that counterterrorism warnings don’t always get a lot of attention, but the quick work to foil the Vienna attack — which potentially saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives — was different. “I can tell you within my agency and others, there were people who thought that was a really good day for Langley,” he said, in reference to the location of the agency’s headquarters. “And not just for the Swifties in the workforce.”
Austrian concert promoter Barracuda Music announced on August 7 that the three sold-out Eras Tour gigs planned for Ernst Happel Stadium on August 8, 9 and 10 were cancelled due to an alleged terror plot aimed at disrupting the shows. According to Austrian authorities, the main suspect is an unnamed 19-year-old Austrian man who had reportedly been inspired by the Islamic State terror group. They said he planned to attack the estimated 30,000 Swifties expected to gather outside the stadium with knives or homemade explosives; the venue itself holds 65,0000 and more than 200,000 fans were anticipated for the shows.
During a raid of the main suspect’s home, police reportedly found chemical substances and other technical devices that were to be used in the attack. The main suspect’s lawyer has said that the allegations were “overacting at its best,” suggesting Austrian authorities were exaggerating the details in order to expand their surveillance powers. The AP noted that Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, previously said that other intelligence agencies helped Austrian investigators, who cannot legally monitor text messages.
Swift’s Vienna shows were scheduled to be part of the penultimate run on the Eras Tour‘s European leg, and were followed by a five-night stint at London’s Wembley Stadium (August 15-20), which went off without incident. The singer opened up about the scary terror threat in a statement last week, writing, “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.”
The cancellation of the shows left tens of thousands of Swifties — many of whom traveled from afar to attend the gigs — disappointed and upset, though in classic Swiftie fashion they rallied in the days after by combating fear with joy. After the shows were called off, the singer’s fans flooded the streets of Vienna for impromptu sing-alongs and spontaneous celebrations of their devotion to the pop star.
Authorities had previously said the main suspect confessed to a plan aimed at killing “as many people as possible” and that he had reportedly quit his regular job recently and “conspicuously changed his appearance and adapted to I.S. [Islamic State] propaganda.” Investigators also reportedly found I.S. and al-Qaida materials at the home of a 17-year-old suspect, who was said to have been hired in the week before the planned shows by a company that was to provide services to the stadium and was arrested by police special forces near the stadium. A third 18-year-old suspect has also been arrested, though none of the men have been charged yet and their names have not been made public per Austrian privacy rules.
Swift is currently on a brief hiatus before she is scheduled to pick up the final run of U.S. Eras dates on Oct. 18 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Eight years after the deadly mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in June 2016, local police closed their investigation into the venue’s former owners, with no charges being filed. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In an emailed statement to The Associated Press, the Orlando Police Department stated […]
Taeil is no longer part of NCT, with SM Entertainment announcing Wednesday (Aug. 28) that the 30-year-old K-pop idol has left the group following an accusation of an unspecified sex crime. According to the Associated Press‘ English translation of a Korean statement posted to SM’s X, the label wrote, “We recognized the seriousness of the […]
Carole King is perhaps one of the most famous Taylor Swift fans in the world, and the iconic singer-songwriter joined the kickoff call for the Swifties for Kamala coalition on Tuesday night (Aug. 27).
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“I am a Swiftie, and Taylor and I are actually friends. We have had conversations backstage and I see her as sort of my musical and songwriting granddaughter. We have a lovely relationship, and I’m so proud of her,” King told the thousands of listeners who tuned into the livestream, noting that her favorite song of Swift’s is “Shake It Off” from 1989.
“I’m excited about Kamala, because so many people are excited about Kamala, and I have met her. I admire her and the stars lined up, and Joe Biden did a really gracious, hard thing to do, and I’m so proud of him,” King continued. “But this is about you. I know you have your ways of communicating and social networking and organizing.”
King then encouraged Swifties to become in-person volunteers, and take part in door knocking and phone calling to rally voters. “I’ve been a political activist years. I’ve been a caller, I’ve been a door knocker, even as a famous person,” she explained, before giving the livestream tips on how to be a good door knocker. “I’m telling you all this because if any of you are thinking of volunteering to be door knockers or phone callers, but you’re a little nervous about what you might say, please believe me, you will be working with an organizer who will give you steps,” she said. “Don’t be afraid, because there is nothing to lose and everything to gain. […] There is too much at stake.”
To conclude, King shared that because Swift helped induct her into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 by performing the legend’s classic, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” she will return the favor. She then delivered a “surprise song” for the Swifties for Kamala by briefly singing the chorus of “Shake It Off.” “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/ And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate/ Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake/ I shake it off, I shake it off,” she mused.
Swift has yet to endorse anyone in the 2024 presidential race between Trump and Harris. She is not affiliated with the group — which describes themselves as a “coalition of Swifties ready to mobilize Taylor Swift fans to help get Democratic candidates elected up and down the ballot” — but Swifties for Kamala have noted that the “I Can Do It With the Broken Heart” singer is “always welcome to show up to our party.”
Elsewhere in the Swifties for Kamala kickoff event, Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke to the group, noting that her two favorite Taylor Swift songs are “Karma” and “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version) (10 Minute Version).” “What I love best about Swifties, you are resilient and you know how to take on bullies,” the politician explained. “You know how to be your most authentic, most joyful selves. You come together hand-to-hand, friendship bracelets on your wrists and you overcome pretty much anything that life throws at you. The Kamala Harris campaign is standing up for what’s right in the face of bullies like Donald Trump.”
She continued, “With Kamala Harris, it’s all very different. Under a Kamala Harris presidency, our future is bright. Kamala will sign abortion protections into law. She’ll take on big corporations that are screwing you over. I’m looking at you Ticketmaster on this one, and she will help level the playing field for all people. So here’s the deal. We’ve got 70 days until the election, and I’m just going to be blunt, it is going to be a tough fight ahead. We have a lot to do, and dang, there are only 24 hours in a day, or 144 ‘All Too Well (10 Minute Version)’s. But here’s the thing, just like you’ve done every time before, we will push this boulder up the hill, and we will win in November. So with that, I am looking forward to the era of the first woman president. So please get in the fight, knock on doors, make phone calls, and let’s elect Kamala Harris the next President of the United States. Swifties, you can get this done.”
Watch the full Swifties for Kamala kickoff call below.
Representation matters, and Chrissy Teigen got to see that firsthand when her eight-year-old daughter, Luna, met Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris at the White House this summer. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I’m still glowing from this moment when my Luna (in her adorable […]