Eminem bans US presidential candidate from using his music in campaign

Lawyers representing Eminem have sent a letter to the Republican US Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy asking that he stop performing his music as part of his campaign for President.

Ramaswamy has performed the rapper's hit 'Lose Yourself' at several campaign events. His campaign team informed CNN that it would comply with Eminem's request, though Ramaswamy did post about the request on his Twitter.

"Will The REAL Slim Shady Please Stand Up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?" Ramaswamy said, referencing the lyrics to the song and tagging the rapper. Eminem did not respond.

Will The REAL Slim Shady Please Stand Up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he? @Eminem 😅 https://t.co/iOOuG6SU2D

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 28, 2023

In the US, politicians don't always need express permission from artists to use their music in their campaigns. Under licensing packages available for purchase by the campaigns, they can get legal access to more than 20 million songs for use at political rallies. However, an artist can remove their music from the list, as Eminem has just done.

It appears that many artists are unaware of the US's blanket license model, causing many artists to have similar complaints: in 2016 and 2020, artists like Adele, Neil Young, Phil Collins and more objected to former President Trump's use of their music in his campaign.

Earlier this year, the cast and crew of Peaky Blinders, including Irish star Cillian Murphy, released a statement objecting to the use of clips from the show in an infamous campaign video for presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. They confirmed the clips were used without official license or permission and that they "strongly disapprove" of the clip being used in that context.

Ramaswamy is an outspoken supporter of former US President Donald Trump, though also running against him. Similarly to Trump, he has no political experience, and made his career as a businessman before turning to politics.

Trump is the clear Republican frontrunner according to recent polls, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trailing him and Ramaswamy not far behind. Trump was recently indicted and charged with plotting to overturn the 2020 election results when he lost the position to President Joe Biden. His trial date was set for early next year, crucially before next November's Presidential election in which the leading Republican candidate will run against President Biden.