‘Stop playing my song’: Artistes oppose Trump campaign’s use of their music

Candidates for political office in the United States have long used popular music in their campaigns, both in advertisements and at their rallies.

Songs can be played at rallies without direct permission from the artiste under a blanket licence, issued by performing rights organisations such as Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI).

However, many artistes have asked that the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stop using their music.

Among the latest musicians to do so are

Swedish group Abba,

whose songs – including hits like The Winner Takes It All and Dancing Queen – were played at a rally held by Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance in Minnesota on July 27.

In a statement released by their label Universal Music on Aug 29, the group requested that such use of their music be “immediately removed and taken down”.

Here are other artistes who have over the years asked the Trump campaign to stop using their songs.

Jack White

The former frontman of The White Stripes threatened legal action over the use of his song Seven Nation Army in a video posted on X by Trump’s deputy director of communications Margo Martin.

The song was used as background music to footage of Trump walking up the steps into a plane.

“Oh... Don’t even think about using my music, you fascists,” Jack White wrote in an Instagram post on Aug 30, accompanied by a screen recording of the video.

“Lawsuit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your five thousand others)... And as long as I’m here, a double f*** you DonOLD for insulting our nation’s veterans at Arlington, you scum.”

The video has since been deleted.

White and his ex-wife and drummer Meg White also called out the use of Seven Nation Army in a Trump campaign video in 2016. Following this, he advertised a T-shirt bearing the words “Icky Trump” – a play on their album title Icky Thump.

Foo Fighters

Earlier in August, Trump used American band Foo Fighters’ song My Hero to introduce Mr Robert Kennedy Jr at a rally in Arizona.

The band, however, objected.

In a statement shared with CBS News, a spokesman for the band said: “Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were, they would not have granted it.”

The spokesman for the band added that any royalties received as a result of the usage will be donated to the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

Beyonce

On Aug 20, Republican spokesman Steven Cheung posted a video on X showing Trump’s arrival at a rally in Detroit, using Beyonce’s song Freedom as the soundtrack.

Fans of the singer criticised the Trump campaign for his use of the track, which Beyonce had earlier allowed Ms Harris to adopt as the official song for her campaign.

On Aug 21, music and entertainment magazine Billboard reported that the singer’s record label and music publisher sent a cease and desist letter to Trump’s campaign over its use of the song in the video uploaded by Mr Cheung. The video was later taken down.

Sinead O’Connor

In March, Irish singer Sinead O’Connor’s label

demanded Trump stop playing her 1990 hit Nothing Compares 2 U

at his rallies in Maryland and North Carolina. The singer died in July 2023.

In a statement to US magazine Variety, Chrysalis Records said O’Connor would have been “disgusted, hurt and insulted to have her work misrepresented in this way by someone who she herself referred to as a ‘biblical devil’”.

“Throughout her life, it is well known that Sinead O’Connor lived by a fierce moral code defined by honesty, kindness, fairness and decency towards her fellow human beings,” it said.

“As the guardians of her legacy, we demand that Donald Trump and his associates desist from using her music immediately.”

Celine Dion

Canadian singer Celine Dion took to social media to post a response to the use of her song, My Heart Will Go On, at Trump’s campaign rally in Montana on Aug 9, saying it

was “in no way authorised”.

A video of Dion performing the song – released in 1997 and used in the Hollywood film Titanic – was shown on a screen at the rally.

Her management team and record label, Sony Music Entertainment Canada, said in the statement: “Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use. And really, that song?”

Panic! at the Disco

Former Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie called out the Trump campaign in 2020 for using the band’s hit High Hopes at a campaign event in Phoenix, Arizona.

“F*** you. You’re not invited. Stop playing my song,” he wrote on X.

In a follow-up post he addressed “to everyone else”, Urie said Trump “represents nothing we stand for”.

“The highest hope we have is voting this monster out in November,” he added.

Adele

In 2015, Trump was spotted attending an Adele concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, where he reportedly cut the queue ahead of fans who had been waiting for hours.

He then used her songs Rolling In The Deep and Skyfall – the theme to the 2012 James Bond film – at his political rallies ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Not only did the British star respond with a statement saying she has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning, but she also expressed support for his then rival Hillary Clinton.

“Don’t vote for him,” Adele told fans at a Miami concert in October 2016, without mentioning Trump’s name.

Aerosmith

In 2015 and 2018, the legal team of US rock band Aerosmith’s frontman Steven Tyler sent cease and desist letters to demand Trump stop playing the band’s songs Dream On and Livin’ On The Edge at his rallies.

“As we have made clear numerous times, Mr Trump is creating the false impression that our client has given his consent for the use of his music, and even that he endorses the presidency of Mr Trump,” CBS News reported the letter sent in 2018 as saying.

Tyler also took to Twitter to express his opposition, saying: “My music is for causes, not for political campaigns or rallies.”