[dontlookdown]

I did a little research into Lindsey's publishing/copyright history and it looks like he has either split publishing rights (or sold publishing rights) for most songs post-Buckingham Nicks with a publishing company called Kobalt Music. Looks like they control most of what was published under the Now Sounds Music name.

So as suspected, the composition can be licensed without his permission (although I'm sure the publisher gets him to weigh in) -- but the actual original recordings for all of his songs are owned by him 100%. So if you hear the original version of the recording, it means he gave permission to have it licensed. If you hear a cover, it most likely was out of his hands, but he still gets 50% profit from the deal.

Songs with multiple writers is a different story.
And the publishing rights to the Buckingham Nicks songs seem to be owned by multiple people - sometimes as much as 5 different publishing companies. Hence the no cd release.
It would probably require multiple attorneys and buy-outs; which is certainly doable but would take lots of time, paperwork and $$$.

I think the first time the "no Fleetwood Mac song will ever be in a movie or a commercial" rule was broken was when Stevie agreed to a request to have Landslide appear in an episode of One Tree Hill.
Led Zeppelin also allowed one of their songs to be played in an episode, and both deals were unprecedented for a licensing deal.

I loved that the band was following the example of the Beatles by not allowing any original recordings in TV, Film or advertising; but when it became clear that the record business was dying (or changing); they slowly changed their tune.