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Home , Icky Thump, Jack White, Meg White, The White Stripes, Third Man Records

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Natalie Edwards IMC 452 - POV #2 Rewrite November 1, 2016

Trump and : Is it ethical for people, including presidential candidates, to use content without getting permission from the original artist? According to Kate Feldman from the New York Daily News, on Tuesday, October 4, two former members were reunited after finding out that a video containing one of their songs was released to promote Republican Presidential candidate ’s campaign. As a result, controversy arose because these artists did not give Trump permission to use their song, which clearly and unethically violates the artist’s rights and may be copyright infringement. Jack and , former band members of the White Stripes, stated immediately that they are “disgusted” by the use of their “” song in a Donald Trump campaign video (Feldman). On Facebook and Twitter, the White Stripes and , which is ’s current , released a statement explaining that they are not affiliated with Trump, and that they do not want Trump’s beliefs and actions to reflect the band itself.

According to Carly Ledbetter from The Huffington Post, at first, it was unclear if the video was an official Trump campaign video. But, a spokesperson from stated that the video was actually a fan-made clip entitled “Trump Triumphant.” The video was posted on YouTube by a user with the account name of “God-Emperor Trump” (Ledbetter). The now-deleted fan-video featured a series of Trump rally clips with the song from the band’s 2003 “Elephant” playing in the background (Feldman). Jack White’s manager, Ian Montone, explained that “If you can’t find the video, great. Then our lawyers have done their job” (Feldman). So, regardless of whether the video was official, it had to be remanded because it demonstrated an unauthorized use of the White Stripe’s music and threatened to taint their brand’s image. According to Matt Miller from Esquire, as a result of this debacle, Third Man Records revealed a new anti-Trump White Stripes t-shirt. The front of the t-shirt reads “Icky Trump”, which is a play on the White Stripes song “” (See Image 1). The back of the shirt lists the original song lyrics, which are ironic and point fingers at 2

Trump for his unpopular stance on immigration (See Image 2). On Twitter, Third Man Records announced that the t-shirt is now available for pre-order and will be available in a few short weeks just before the election takes place (Miller). According to Lyndsey Havens from Billboard, artists who have also taken similar actions and voiced similar sentiments for the Presidential candidate to stop using their music include: , , Queen, The Backstreet Boys, , , R.E.M., and Earth Wind & Fire. Trump angered these artists by either using their songs at one of his campaign rallies or in some sort of video/commercial. Most importantly, these artists do not want to be associated with Trump because of the way he “regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all immigrants from entering the U.S.” (Ledbetter). Most of these artists most likely fear guilt by association, which is why they immediately release statements and even design t-shirts to explain their stance to their fans. Is it ethical for someone to use someone else’s content without getting his or her permission? Absolutely not. Copyright infringement is a serious offense that can be easily and mistakenly violated by many people, brands, and companies. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner. The legal penalties for copyright infringement include fines that range from $200 to $150,000 for each work infringed (). Copyright infringement is most common in the music industry, as well as in politics, advertising, and any other artistic profession Everyone is entitled to have his or her own work protected, and credit must always be given to the original artist no matter what. From a marketing and advertising standpoint, it is important for people, brands, and companies to be especially careful when incorporating other people’s work in their own. Using an artist’s song, content, or idea costs thousands, if not millions, of dollars. According to Marshall Brain from How Stuff Works, depending on the artist, the cost to feature a song in a commercial or video ranges from $25K to $2 million, which goes to the original creator of the song. Most importantly, a creator of a particular copyright has the rights to tell who can or cannot reproduce or share their work. Bands like the White Stripes want to protect their music and brand from further being tainted by Donald Trump and his antics. Due to copyright issues, it is not ethical for any person to use material without consent from the original artist. Regardless of who created the Trump campaign video, anyone who refrains from asking the artist for permission is subject to the same fines and consequences. Trump has had a history of using artists’ songs without their permission at his rallies, and he continues to do so because money is not an object to him. In this case though, it was the fan that violated the rights to the song “Seven Nation Army” and ultimately offended the White Stripes by relating the band to Donald Trump.

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Works Cited

Brain, Marshall. "How Music Licensing Works." HowStuffWorks. InfoSpace Holdings,

LLC., 22 Aug. 2003. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.

Feldman, Kate. "White Stripes 'Disgusted' By Use of Song in Donald Trump Video."

NY Daily News. NYDailyNews.com, 04 Oct. 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

Havens, Lyndsey. "White Stripes 'Disgusted' by Donald Trump Using 'Seven Nation

Army’ for Campaign.” Billboard. Billboard, 04 Oct. 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

Ledbetter, Carly. "White Stripes ‘Disgusted’ That ‘Seven Nation Army’ Has Any

Association With Trump.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.,

04 Oct. 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

Library of Congress. "Definitions - U.S. Copyright Office." U.S. Copyright Office.

Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2016

Miller, Matt. "The White Stripes Just Took This Anti-Trump Thing to a New Level."

Esquire. Hearst Communications, Inc., 06 Oct. 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

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Image 1 (Esquire.com) Third Man Records – “Icky Trump” T-Shirt

Image 2 (Esquire.com) “Icky Thump” Song Lyrics