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Eric Trump says Apple Music is “shadow banning” a cover song by his wife

Eric Trump is whiney at the best of times, but this one is fun. He’s claiming that Apple Music is “shadow banning” a single recorded by his wife, Lara. Apparently he thinks it’s a great new song that everyone needs to hear.

Here are the facts.

  1. It’s not a “new song.” It’s a cover of the 1989 Tom Petty hit, “I Won’t Back Down.”
  2. The estate of Tom Petty once sent a cease-and-desist order to the Trump campaign complaining that it was using the song without permission. Such a complaint can be difficult to enforce if a song is played in a venue with a performing rights licenses issued by ASCAP, BMI, or SEASAC. Given that every arena has such a license allowing it to play (and pay for) music played within its walls, it’s really hard to stop from having a given song played during an event that’s rented the space.
  3. And that cease-and-desist is basically useless for the Lara Trump song. Why? Because in America (and most other territories), performance of a song is covered by something called a “blanket license.” That means anyone can cover any song without asking for permission. As long as the recording’s use is reported by a performance rights organization, there’s nothing much the composer can do.

Poor Lara, though. She did a search for her version of “I Won’t Back Down” and couldn’t find it.

Meanwhile, Eric fired off his own complaint, thinking that he had some kind of scoop.

Apple hasn’t responded yet. And they shouldn’t hold their breath hoping for any help from the Petty estate.

(Via Mediate)

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39642 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

One thought on “Eric Trump says Apple Music is “shadow banning” a cover song by his wife

  • I’ll raise a point of order, maybe, not really sure here, but maybe it’s a piece of s@#@…just wondering….

    Reply

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