- Politicians and the Perils of Using Pop Songs
- Vivek Ramaswamy’s Eminem Performance and Response
- A History of Musicians vs. Politicians: Copyright Battles
During election season, it’s a safe guarantee that a politician will attempt to gain credibility by using a popular song on the campaign trail, only for the artist who recorded it to “ban” them from doing so.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a prospective Republican candidate and multimillionaire in the biotechnology industry, sang Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” on stage at the Iowa State Fair last month.
The 38-year-old can at least claim to be a true aficionado. While attending Harvard in 2006, he chose the 2002 hit as his “life’s theme song” and frequently sang it at open mic evenings and karaoke bars.
Mr. Ramaswamy recently told Politico, “I honestly envisioned myself making it big through American capitalism, and that’s why the Eminem story resonated with me.”
“Growing up in a caravan park with a single mother, he is determined to succeed… I did not grow up in a caravan, but neither did I grow up in the same circumstances as the majority of my Harvard classmates. I aspired to attain the same success as many of their parents. It sort of spoke to me, I suppose.
The author of The History of Gangster Rap, Soren Baker, told the New York Times, “What Vivek is attempting to do is align himself with the struggle of overcoming adversity. According to what I know about Vivek’s policies, objectives, and aims, they have nothing in common with Eminem.”
The rapper appears to concur. Through the performing rights organization BMI, he has informed Mr. Ramaswamy to cease using his music.
Nonetheless, Mr. Ramaswamy may have already accomplished his goal. The New York Times wrote that his recent performance “distinguished him culturally from his generally awkward and older competitors in the still-young presidential race.”
Other politicians who infuriated musicians
Mr. Ramaswamy is the latest political figure to incur the ire of rock, pop, and rap musicians. He is not even the first person to get on Eminem’s bad side.
In 2014, the rapper and his publishing company sued New Zealand’s National Party for copyright infringement after Prime Minister John Key used Lose Yourself in a campaign advertisement.
The issue has a much longer history. Bruce Springsteen criticized Ronald Reagan for intending to use Born in the USA in his 1984 election campaign.
In 2016, when Donald Trump first campaigned for president, Adele, Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, and REM were all dissatisfied with unknowingly providing his campaign soundtrack.
Michael Stipe, lead vocalist for REM, instructed, “Do not use our music or my voice for your ludicrous campaign.”
Neil Young sued Mr. Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign 2020 for using Rockin’ in the Free World and Devil’s Sidewalk in what he termed an “un-American campaign of ignorance and hatred.”
Dr. Dre sent Marjorie Taylor Greene a cease-and-desist letter in January for using one of Eminem’s compositions in a promotional video.
There are fewer instances of left-leaning politicians angering musicians, possibly because many artists lean left and feel less compelled to express their disapproval in public.
Fatboy Slim denounced angrily, in the United Kingdom, Labour’s use of Right Here, Right Now at their 2004 conference, one year after the Iraq War.
In 2021, when Boris Johnson stepped onto a Conservative Party conference stage to the sound of the indie band Friendly Fires, they responded sarcastically, “If Boris Johnson needed something uplifting to walk on to, perhaps he should have used the sound of a busy food bank.”
His successor as prime minister, Liz Truss, angered M People by walking out to their song Moving On Up at the following year’s conference.
As it turned out, the 1993 song remained in the UK top 20 longer than her tenure as prime minister.
