Just Because They Are Your Favorite Band Does Not Mean You can Steal Their Music

Rush (the band not the Limbaugh) sues Rand Paul.

"...libertarians love them, especially after the revelation that the seminal album 2112 was based on Ayn Rand's novella Anthem."

"Rush's lawyer, Roger Farmer, wrote in the filing that "The public performance of Rush's music is not licensed for political purposes: any public venue which allows such use is in breach of its public performance license and also liable for copyright infringement." Mr. Farmer attempted to distance the political element in the filing later on, saying that "This is not a political issue — this is a copyright issue," and that "We would do this no matter who it is."

There are a slew of cases of Republicans using songs without paying for them as Alan Colmes surveys on his blog. He ends with this:

In 1997, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders got Rush Limbaugh to stop using her song, “My City Was Gone” because she didn’t like that he had appropriated it. They eventually came to an agreement that Limbaugh would pay for use of the song with the proceeds going to the animal rights group PETA, reportedly for $500,000 a year.

Turning Limbaugh into a PETA donor. Nice work, Ms. Hynde.