{"id":8063,"date":"2025-10-10T09:08:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T09:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/can-he-sue-dhs-for-using-his-song-revival\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T07:29:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T07:29:28","slug":"can-he-sue-dhs-for-using-his-song-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/can-he-sue-dhs-for-using-his-song-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"Can He Sue DHS For Using His Song Revival?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Can He Sue DHS For Using His Song Revival? The Department of Homeland Security used a Zach Bryan<\/a> song in a promotional video on social media \u2013 a trolling jab at the country star after he released a song criticizing ICE raids. Can he sue them for copyright infringement?<\/p>\n

The video, posted Tuesday to the official DHS account on X, featured Bryan\u2019s signature hit \u201cRevival\u201d over a montage of footage of masked federal agents arresting people. It came under the caption \u201cWe\u2019re having an All Night Revival,\u201d the song\u2019s central refrain.<\/p>\n

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The post came amid days of right-wing outrage after Bryan released a snippet of a new song that said Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a unit of DHS, plans to \u201cbust down your door.\u201d Captioned \u201cThe fading of the red white and blue,\u201d the lyrics seemed to be a reference to President Donald Trump\u2019s controversial immigration crackdown and mass deportations.<\/p>\n

Bryan currently seems to be trying to deescalate the situation, saying his lyrics had been \u201cmisconstrued.\u201d But since he almost certainly didn\u2019t authorize the use of his song, the DHS video begs the question: Can Bryan hit back by suing the government for copyright infringement?<\/p>\n

The answer is yes, with some big qualifications.<\/p>\n

Using a copyrighted song in a social media clip requires a so-called sync license, the same way that movie producers need to get permission and pay fees to feature a song in their film. Assuming Bryan didn\u2019t grant such a license just to be trolled by the Trump administration, the video posted by DHS is a textbook example of copyright infringement.<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t everyone use music in social media videos? Platforms have licensing deals with music companies, allowing their users to soundtrack their videos with a huge selection of legally-cleared songs. But that kind of license is aimed at non-commercial uses by individual users and likely wouldn\u2019t cover a promotional video by an entity like DHS \u2013 and Elon Musk\u2019s X famously doesn\u2019t have one anyway.<\/p>\n

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The agency likely isn\u2019t shielded by \u201cfair use,\u201d either. If a person disagreed with Bryan\u2019s opinion on ICE and wanted to criticize him, they might successfully argue they had a right to use his music. But that\u2019s a much harder argument to make for what amounts to a recruiting advertisement by a large entity that would normally pay for the music in its ads.<\/p>\n

Bringing lawsuits against the federal government can be difficult due to the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which largely shields it from civil actions. But when it comes to copyright law, Congress has formally waived that restriction and created a path for rightsowners to sue over exactly this situation.<\/p>\n

Unlike a typical copyright case, Bryan would bring his hypothetical infringement lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, a special federal court designed to handle cases against the government. And unlike a normal case, he could only ask for \u201creasonable and entire compensation\u201d for the use of his song, not an injunction forcing DHS to remove the video.<\/p>\n

However, Bryan could still get the video pulled down by using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which empowers copyright owners to file takedown notices directly with platforms like X \u2013 and requires those platforms to comply unless the alleged infringer disputes it. It\u2019s unclear if the star has filed such a notice; the clip remains live on X<\/a> as of Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Last month, comedian Theo Von objected to another DHS post<\/a> on X, which featured a clip of him saying \u201cHeard you got deported dude, bye.\u201d The right-leaning podcaster, the son of a Nicaraguan immigrant, said: \u201cYooo DHS i didn\u2019t approve to be used in this. I know you know my address so send a check. And please take this down and please keep me out of your \u2018banger\u2019 deportation videos.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if Von lodged a formal DMCA complaint, but the clip was pulled down the next day. It\u2019s not clear if DHS deleted it or if X removed it.<\/p>\n

One major caveat to any discussion of Bryan\u2019s song: It\u2019s unclear whether he owns the rights to it. The star reportedly sold<\/a> or was close to selling some of his catalog earlier this year, though the exact parameters of that deal have not been made public. He would need some ownership stake in the song\u2019s publishing or master rights in order to sue DHS.<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more importantly, Bryan appears unwilling to pick this kind of fight. Litigation is expensive and difficult under the best circumstances, and a case over the clip is unlikely to yield much in the way of actual monetary damages. It would also obviously further inflame a situation that Bryan \u2013 a country superstar with a fandom that spans the political spectrum \u2013 seems intent on calming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis song is about how much I love this country and everyone in it more than anything,\u201d the star said Tuesday. \u201cWhen you hear the rest of the song, you will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle. Everyone using this now as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are. We need to find our way back.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to a request for comment from Billboard<\/em> on whether Homeland Security had secured a license for \u201cRevival\u201d or heard pushback from Bryan\u2019s camp, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: \u201cDHS will continue using every tool at its disposal to keep the American people informed as our agents work to Make America Safe Again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reps Bryan did not immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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