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All The Artists Who Have Told Trump To Stop Using Their Songs At His Rallies

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This article is more than 3 years old.
Updated Jul 4, 2020, 03:13pm EDT

TOPLINE

The Rolling Stones are just the latest band to threaten legal action against President Trump over his use of their music at his rallies–over a dozen artists have instructed the divisive president to stop using their songs.

TIMELINE

June 16, 2015On the same day he announced his candidacy, Trump was denounced by Canadian-born singer-songwriter Neil Young, who put out a statement saying Trump was “not authorized” to play ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ at his announcement and noting that Young was a supporter of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The song was again used during Trump’s 2020 Fourth of July event at Mount Rushmore, prompting more criticism from Young.

September 9, 2015Rock band R.E.M. said they “do not authorize or condone” Trump playing ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It’ at a rally to oppose the Iran deal, with bassist Mike Mills telling Trump to, “cease and desist,” and lead singer Michael Stipe tweeting, “Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you—you sad, attention grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign."

October 14, 2015Trump begrudgingly agreed to stop using the music of 70’s rock band Aerosmith, tweeting that lead singer Stephen Tyler “asked me not to,” and declaring he’d “have better one to take its place,” later claiming in a follow-up tweet that Tyler “got more publicity on his song request than he’s gotten in ten years.”

February 1, 2016A spokesperson for Adele decried Trump’s use of her songs ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Rolling in the Deep’ at his rallies, saying in a statement that the British pop singer “has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning.”

February 2, 2016British singer Elton John, a staple of the Trump presidency whose song ‘Rocketman’ was the inspiration for Trump’s eponymous nickname for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, slammed Trump for using his music, later saying it was “nothing personal” and that he doesn’t want his music used in American elections.

July 19, 2016British rock band Queen persistently hit Trump and the GOP over their use of their use of ‘We Are The Champions’ at the 2016 Republican National Convention, saying in a statement that they were “frustrated by the repeated unauthorized use of the song after a previous request to desist,” and that the band “does not want its associated with any mainstream or political debate in any country.”

July 20, 2016R&B groups Earth, Wind & Fire and The O’Jays echoed Queen’s complaints about the Republican Convention over the GOP’s use of ‘September’ and ‘Love Train,’ with Earth, Wind & Fire tweeting “Another unauthorized use (September) at the Republican Convention, against our wishes,” and the O’Jays saying Trump “may be the anti-Christ.”

July 22, 2016British bands The Beatles and The Rolling Stones both decried the use of their music at the Republican Convention as well, with the estate of the late Beatles singer George Harrison stating, “The unauthorized use of ‘Here Comes the Sun’ at the RNC is offensive & against the wishes of the George Harrison estate,” joking that they may have approved the use of ‘Beware of Darkness.’

January 17, 2017Twisted Sister guitarist and manager Jay Jay French claimed that singer Dee Snider, a one-time Celebrity Apprentice contestant and friend of Trump, quietly asked him to stop using ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ as his campaign anthem after its use sparked outcry from his fans–one of the few instances where Trump complied.

October 30, 2018Singer Pharrell Williams sent a cease-and-desist letter to Trump for playing ‘Happy’ at a rally in Indiana just hours after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pennsylvania, which left 11 congregants dead, with his attorney writing in a letter, “there was nothing 'happy' about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose."

November 5, 2018Attorneys for Rihanna issued a cease-and-desist order over Trump’s use of ‘Don’t Stop The Music,’ declaring that the Barbadian singer “has not provided her consent to Mr. Trump to use her music. Such use is therefore improper,” and that use of the song “creates a false impression that Ms. Fenty is affiliated with, connected to or otherwise associated with Trump.”

November 5, 2018Guns N’ Roses lead vocalist Axl Rose tweeted that, like many other artists, the band “has formally requested our music not be used at Trump rallies or Trump associated events,” but that the campaign “is using loopholes in the various venues’ blanket performance licenses which were not intended for such craven political purposes, without the songwriters’ consent.”

October 11, 2019After filing a copyright complaint, Canadian rock band Nickelback succeeded in getting Twitter to remove a manipulated version of the music video for their song ‘Photograph,’ tweeted by Trump, which attempted to tie former Vice President Joe Biden to a Ukrainian gas executive.

October 14, 2019The estate of the late singer Prince claimed that Trump “confirmed a year ago that the campaign would not use Prince’s music” and said they would “never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs,” after he played ‘Purple Rain’ at a rally in Minneapolis.

January 15, 2020R.E.M. said they were “exploring all legal avenues” to prevent Trump from using their music at his rallies after he played ‘Everybody Hurts’ and ‘Losing My Religion’ at a rally in Milwaukee, adding “please know that we do not condone the use of our music by this fraud and con man.”

June 22, 2020The family of late singer Tom Petty said in a statement that Trump was “in no way authorized” to play ‘I Won’t Back Down’ at his Tulsa rally, adding that Petty and his family “firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind,” calling the Trump campaign a “campaign of hate” and issuing a cease-and-desist notice.

June 24, 2020Panic! At the Disco vocalist Brendon Urie tweeted, “Dear Trump Campaign, Fuck you. You’re not invited. Stop playing my song,” and said Trump “represents nothing we stand for. The highest hope we have is voting this monster out in November,” after Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. walked out to ‘High Hopes’ at a rally in Phoenix.

June 28, 2020The Rolling Stones said in a statement that they are working with music rights company BMI to stop Trump from playing their songs at his rally after he played ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ at his rally in Tulsa, adding that BMI has “notified the Trump campaign on behalf of the Stones that the unauthorized use of their songs will constitute a breach of its licensing agreement,” and that if he continues to use their music, “he would face a lawsuit for breaking the embargo and playing music that has not been licensed.”

Key Background

Unauthorized use of music has long been an issue in modern campaigns, particularly for Republicans. Singer Bruce Springsteen has clashed with President Ronald Reagan and Republican presidential candidates Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan for using his song “Born in the U.S.A.,” which is ironically highly critical of the patriotic rhetoric those politicians espouse. Other Republican politicians like John McCain, George W. Bush and Sarah Palin have all had frequent run-ins with performers. Other politicians who have had such incidents include Barack Obama and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Chief Critic

French said Snider couldn’t resort to the “public shaming” that artists often employ in these situations because Snider was friends with Trump. "That means publishing a statement that repudiates the person using the song and, in so doing, creates enough bad press that he or she just stops using it.” French wrote that Twisted Sister’s grievance with Trump, “didn’t need the press. It didn’t need public shaming. But our song stopped getting played and didn’t become the anthem of the Trump campaign."

News Peg

While artists have succeeded in getting videos their music removed from Twitter, and persuading Trump behind the scenes to stop using it, they have very little legal recourse over his unauthorized use of their music at rallies. As Forbes contributor Michelle Kaminsky notes, “in most cases, politicians are actually free to use songs (even without artists' permission) so long as venues have “public performance licenses” with songwriters’ associations such as BMI and ASCAP that cover the usage of songs within their catalogs.” But The Rolling Stones, it seems, have found a way around that, and it may prompt other artists to take similar actions.

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