The preparations for the US Election 2024 are going at full throttle and everything has become a medium of promotion, whether it is art, music, or some event. However, not all artists like using their creations being used as props for elections like a publicity stunt. Eminem has asked Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to stop using his tracks for the purpose.
Vivek Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur who has offered an impromptu performance of Lose Yourself at the Iowa State Fair. Though it created much buzz, a letter came after a week where Eminem made the request via the performing rights organization BMI to stop misusing his songs. Vivek is vying to unseat Donald Trump as the presumed 2024 Republican nominee. After this letter arrived, his spokesperson said that Mr Ramaswamy was ready to comply with the request by Eminem or Marshall Mathers III.
The letter said that the company had “received a communication from” Eminem who objected to the Republican’s use of his authentic “musical compositions”. The letter further reads, “BMI will consider any performance of the Eminem works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach” considering the license for the intellectual property.
Campaign spokeswoman for Eminem, Tricia McLaughlin said, “Vivek just got on the stage and cut loose,” in a statement to the US media as Vivek utilized the rapper’s lyrical content for electoral promotion. Tricia also added, “To the American people’s chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the real slim shady.”
To keep the situation light, Mr Ramaswamy posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Will The REAL Slim Shady Please Stand Up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?”
This is not new but the feud between the musicians and politicians is prevailing for a long time. In the 1984 election campaign, Bruce Springsteen castigated President Reagan for planning to use his works. Similarly, Fatboy Slim got ferocious for using his ‘Right Here, Right Now’ by the Labours at the 2004 conference.
If seen legally, the US politicians do not need to seek permission from the music artists personally as the campaigns can buy licensing packages from music rights organizations like ASCAP and of course, BMI. It offers them access to a sum of 20+ million tracks to use in political rallies. However, each artist has the right to remove him or herself from this list. Previously, Rolling Stone has done it and now, rap legend Eminem is doing the same after Vivek Ramaswamy made an impromptu rendition of the track ‘Lose Yourself’. It feels like the rapper was not even aware that his music was on the list.
Donald Trump has also misused some tracks for the 2016 and 2020 US elections and it made music artists like Adele, Neil Young, Phil Collins, and many others very angry. The scene is quite better in the UK as the political parties and individuals have to “obtain permission from the relevant rights holder” before using it.
