David Byrne suing the governor of Florida



The serene looking man you see in the picture is Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. But recently Byrne dropped the calm face and replaced it with a “I’m gonna sue the shit outta you” face.

Byrne is suing Charlie Crist, the governor of Florida, for using the Talking Heads song “Road to Nowhere” in a campaign ad without getting Byrne’s permission first. Billboard (via CoS) reports that Crist didn’t get a synchronization license or a master use license, according to Byrne’s laywer Lawrence Iser.

Plus, Crist is also in trouble for violating the Lanham Act of the U.S. Trade Statue which implies that Byrne endorsed the governor. So how much is Byrne suing for?

One MILLION dollars! Which is usually what Byrne gets when people want to use his songs for anything. Damn, now I wanna write a million dollar song. Who’s got a pen?

Surprisingly it’s always the politicians who think they can get away with using songs without permission. John McCain did it during his presidential campaign in 2008 when he used Jackson Browne’s song “Running On Empty”. Also, the Steve Miller Band was a victim of this when Marco Rubio, the man running against Crist in the senate race, used the song “Take the Money and Run” in a campaign ad.

Wise up, politicians. Just because you’re trying to help run the country doesn’t mean you can take advantage of the artists your constituents listen to more than you.

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3 Responses to “David Byrne suing the governor of Florida”

  1. frank Says:
    May 24th, 2010 at 5:42 pm

    john mccain also did it to the foo fighters by using my hero. and also, george bush actually did it to the foo fighters also by using times like these. when that happened dave actually started touring the country with john kerry on his campaign playing solo acoustic sets.

  2. David Byrne suing the governor of Florida | Knowledge Valley Says:
    May 24th, 2010 at 7:41 pm

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