Since December 2007, my favorite musician, Jeff Tweedy, has held several fundraisers with his band, Wilco, in honor of Barack Obama. Wilco headlined the concert-based fundraiser for Obama titled “Change Rocks” in December. At a concert in Washington in February, Tweedy introduced the song "The Thanks I Get" as the "Obama fight song." The refrain repeats "we can make it better” (1).
Wilco does not alone in the room of rockers that support Obama. Jay Z played free shows to encourage voters to choose Obama in Miami and Detroit (2). Justin Timberlake appeared at an Obama rally in Las Vegas two weeks ago.
“We’ve never been so inspired by one person,” Timberlake stated alongside girlfriend Jessica Biel (3).
Gigwise.com realized the massive Obama support within the music industry and compiled a list of “40 Music Stars Who Endorse Barack Obama!” This article published in July 2008, but more musicians have outwardly declared their support since then (4).
Many musicians have incorporated their support of Obama into their set lists. When Death Cab for Cutie (DCFC) played Assembly Hall October 12, Obama stickers decorated an array of their gear. Toronto-based Broken Social Scene followed DCFC’s lead last night when they asked the crowd “to vote for the right candidate” and made a hand motion in the shape of an O.
All the Obama support created difficulty for the McCain camp. In August, Van Halen objected to the McCain campaign’s use their song “Right Now” for McCain’s entrance at a Rally in Dayton, Ohio. A week later, Heart objected to McCain’s use of their track “Barracuda” during rallies and events. The campaign continued to use the song after repeated requests to stop.
"The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission," Heart said in a statement. "We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored."
In early October, the McCain camp struck again with the unauthorized use of “My Hero” by the Foo Fighters. The publicist of the band released a statement on October 8.
“. . . we hope that the McCain campaign will do the right thing and stop using our song — and start asking artists' permission in general" (5).
Sources:
(1) http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/12/obama_3_wilco.html
(2) http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098989A001600993A53/
(3) http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098989A001600994216/
(4) http://www.gigwise.com/article.php?id=43749&image=3#gallery
(5) http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098989A001600993DF5/
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Campaign for Voting
Tuesday, October 7 marked the final day for Illinois residents to register to vote (1). This date echoed across the country as the final chance for numerous states to secure a spot in this November’s historic election. As many Americans scrambled to their local libraries to register, campaigns pushed them there. This past week, the main campaign hasn’t been for John McCain or Barack Obama, but America’s newest sweetheart – voting.
The Obama and McCain camps focused much of their campaigns on registering citizens to vote during the past months. Michelle Obama paid particular attention to the importance of voting. In appearances on The View and Larry King Live, she lingered on the subject for a considerable amount of time. In September, she held a conference call with various college newspapers stressing the same importance (2). Mrs. Obama spent the week preceding the largest voter registration deadline, Oct. 7, at college campuses in battleground states encouraging students to vote, even if it isn’t for her husband (3).
Nonpartisan voting campaigns shined their spotlights on the youth vote. Declare Yourself is a campaign initiated in 2004 to encourage particularly young people to register to vote. Celebrities and technology drive these campaigns. The opening page on the Declare Yourself website hosts a photograph of Jessica Alba with her mouth and body bound by black tape and a statement: “only you can silence yourself.” Declare Yourself offers free concerts by Death Cab for Cutie or The Decemberists for the college campus that registers the most students (4).
A campaign run by MTV uses similar celebrity appeal. Choose or Loose helps students register their peers to vote along with providing celeb-fused election related articles and information on the candidates for students. For instance, Choose or Lose brought attention to the Public Service Announcement on voting created by Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, and other stars (5). Countless organizations with the same celebrity tactics including the WWE (6) and the Rock the Vote campaign (7) don't care who youth vote for as long as they're voting.
Is the celebrity appeal working? Are WE, the youth of America, going to exercise our right to vote? November 4 holds the answers.
Celeb-Fused PSA on Voting
Michelle Obama on Larry King Live
Sources:
(1) http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1072705/deadlines_and_how_to_register_to_vote.html
(2) http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/26269
(3) http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2008/oct/01/michelle-obama-urges-cu-students-vote/
(4) http://www.declareyourself.com/index.php
(5) http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098989A001600993A6C/
(6) http://vote.wwe.com/
(7) http://www.rockthevote.com/home.html
The Obama and McCain camps focused much of their campaigns on registering citizens to vote during the past months. Michelle Obama paid particular attention to the importance of voting. In appearances on The View and Larry King Live, she lingered on the subject for a considerable amount of time. In September, she held a conference call with various college newspapers stressing the same importance (2). Mrs. Obama spent the week preceding the largest voter registration deadline, Oct. 7, at college campuses in battleground states encouraging students to vote, even if it isn’t for her husband (3).
Nonpartisan voting campaigns shined their spotlights on the youth vote. Declare Yourself is a campaign initiated in 2004 to encourage particularly young people to register to vote. Celebrities and technology drive these campaigns. The opening page on the Declare Yourself website hosts a photograph of Jessica Alba with her mouth and body bound by black tape and a statement: “only you can silence yourself.” Declare Yourself offers free concerts by Death Cab for Cutie or The Decemberists for the college campus that registers the most students (4).
A campaign run by MTV uses similar celebrity appeal. Choose or Loose helps students register their peers to vote along with providing celeb-fused election related articles and information on the candidates for students. For instance, Choose or Lose brought attention to the Public Service Announcement on voting created by Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, and other stars (5). Countless organizations with the same celebrity tactics including the WWE (6) and the Rock the Vote campaign (7) don't care who youth vote for as long as they're voting.
Is the celebrity appeal working? Are WE, the youth of America, going to exercise our right to vote? November 4 holds the answers.
Celeb-Fused PSA on Voting
Michelle Obama on Larry King Live
Sources:
(1) http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1072705/deadlines_and_how_to_register_to_vote.html
(2) http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/26269
(3) http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2008/oct/01/michelle-obama-urges-cu-students-vote/
(4) http://www.declareyourself.com/index.php
(5) http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098989A001600993A6C/
(6) http://vote.wwe.com/
(7) http://www.rockthevote.com/home.html
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