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Trump Paid to Use Neil Young Song

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“When Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he’s running for president, the soundtrack at the Trump Tower event was Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World, which was played loudly and repeatedly. But afterward, Young said Trump had used the song without permission — and that he’s a Bernie Sanders guy, anyway,” NPR reports.

Byron York: “But perhaps it is time for a Republican candidate to fight back. There is no legal reason why Trump could not play ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ at his event yesterday, provided that Trump paid the appropriate fee for the right to use the music. And in many of the most common circumstances of life on the campaign trail, Republicans who pay those appropriate fees are as entitled as anyone else to use any artist’s music they choose.”

The Trump campaign confirmed to Fox News that they paid for the right to use the recording.

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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