David Byrne Sues Florida Governor Charlie Crist for $1 Million

Over on his blog today, musician David Byrne announced that he is filing a lawsuit against Florida Governor Charlie Crist for illegal use of the 1985 Talking Heads song “Road to Nowhere,” off the Little Creatures album. Byrne is seeking $1 million in damages from Crist and his senatorial campaign, who used the song in web and YouTube ads attacking Marco Rubio — his opponent in this coming November’s election.

Besides being theft, use of the song and my voice in a campaign ad implies that I, as writer and singer of the song, might have granted Crist permission to use it, and that I therefore endorse him and/or the Republican Party, of which he was a member until very, very recently. (via David Byrne’s journal)

Turns out Byrne is unhappy that Crist used the song, not just because he doesn’t want his music associated with a political campaign, but also because he has a longstanding no-ad policy with regard to his music. In other words, you won’t hear a Talking Heads song used in a car commercial, or any other product placement.

Byrne then points out that this is not the first time a political campaign has used a song without obtaining permission, citing the recent example of the McCain campaign, and a more vintage example from the Reagan years.

It might be pointed out that Republican campaign organizations have done this kind of thing before. John McCain’s campaign used the Jackson Browne song “Running on Empty” and Reagan’s folks used Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” Both were used illegally without permission, and in the case of the Jackson Browne song a lawsuit was brought. After the Republicans lost several motions attempting to dismiss Browne’s complaint, they settled with him. Part of the settlement said that the Republican National Committee promised to respect artists’ rights and to obtain licenses for the use of copyrighted works in the future. So, it’s not like they weren’t warned, or hadn’t been burned before.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Included below is the track Crist co-opted for his campaign.

Talking Heads “Road To Nowhere”