In Choreographed Campaigns, Candidates Stumble Over Choice of Music; New York Times, 10/12/15

Ben Sisario, New York Times; In Choreographed Campaigns, Candidates Stumble Over Choice of Music:

"The disputes also point to what experts say is a legal gray area over licensing rules for music in political campaigns.

After Neil Young complained in June that Mr. Trump had used his song “Rockin’ in the Free World” without permission, Mr. Trump’s campaign responded that it had obtained a so-called public performance license from Ascap, the music rights agency. In addition, the venues where most major campaign events are held — convention halls, hotels, sports arenas — often carry their own licenses from Ascap and BMI, another rights agency, that allow them to play the millions of songs in those agencies’ catalogs.

The issue gets more complicated when the uses of these songs are captured on video and shared on social media — as they almost inevitably are."