David Byrne Sues Florida Governor

Former Talking Heads singer David Byrne filed a lawsuit against Crist on Monday for using the 1985 tune “Road To Nowhere” in an online campaign ad against his opponent, Republican candidate Marco Rubio.

Crist, who had been running as a Republican until he made the switch to independent in April, is vying for Florida’s open U.S. Senate seat.

Reuters noted that the online ad could be seen on Crist’s campaign website and YouTube for a few days in January.

In a post on his personal website, Byrne explained that he although he has licensed songs to commercial films and TV shows, he has never licensed a song for an ad.

“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,” Byrne wrote.

“I still believe songs occasionally mean something to people — they obviously mean something personal to the writer, and often to the listener as well. A personal and social meaning is diluted when that same song is used to sell a product (or a politician). If Crist and his campaign folks had asked to use the song, I would have said no — even if they had offered a lot of money, such as I have been offered in the past for ad use (though I’ve always turned these offers down).”

The singer is suing Crist for $1 million in damages.

Lawrence Iser, who is representing Byrne, told Reuters that in addition to violating copyright infringement, Crist’s use of “Road to Nowhere” is in violation of the Lanham act, “as it falsely suggests that Byrne endorses Crist’s candidacy.”

Iser represented Jackson Browne in his lawsuit against Senator John McCain. The singer-songwriter sued McCain for using “Running On Empty” without permission during his 2008 campaign. The suit was settled along with an apology from McCain and the Republican National Committee for using the song without permission. The settlement included a promise from the GOP not to use musicians’ work without proper permission in future campaigns. 

Click here for the Reuters article.

Click here for David Byrne’s website.