Portland Company Falsely Held Responsible for Hillary Clinton's Musical Taste

Clinton did not in fact spend $90,000 with the Portland agency Marmoset Music.

By Jenna Mulligan

Local music agency Marmoset stepped into the Presidential spotlight this week after Rolling Stone incorrectly reported Hillary Clinton's campaign paid the Portland firm $90,000 to compile a musical playlist for rallies.

Clinton actually paid Marmoset Music $9,000 for music-usage rights.

The original Rolling Stone article tweaked the Clinton campaign for its affluence and the predictability of its soundtrack, heavily laden with girl-pop anthems like Katy Perry's "Roar."

But news site Quartz noticed the actual payment made to Marmoset totaled only $9,000, according to data from the Federal Elections Commission. The agency sold the non-exclusive rights of usage for up to 50 songs that have been used in campaign videos since Clinton first joined the presidential race.

Marmoset Music, which has served other big-name corporate clients including Levi's, JC Penney and Coca Cola, works to generate revenue for independent musicians, both in Portland and otherwise.

According to Billboard, the first Marmoset song used by the Clinton campaign was the track "Scorpio" by Buddy Ross. This instrumental piece was used to score Clinton's "Getting Started" video announcing her candidacy last April.

Rolling Stone has since issued an "update" to clarify that they were roughly $80,000 and several key details away from the truth.

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