According to the Future of Music Coalition, a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, any time a song plays at a rally, campaigns must “ensure that they have a public performance license covering the composition’s use. Most major public venues such as convention centers and arenas typically purchase blanket licenses from performance rights organizations” like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, which allow campaigns to use songs to which they have secured permission.

“However, these licenses may not cover all uses, so most national campaigns also purchase their own blanket licenses covering all campaign events; an additional benefit is that if they have a whistlestop event on the campaign trail at a factory or in a park and they throw a playlist on the PA, they’d still be covered.”

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