No satisfaction for Trump
He can’t always get what he wants — Stones, others reject Trump’s music use
From the beloved opening lines of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah to the rousing, children’s-choir conclusion of the Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies have been filled with classic songs whose authors and their heirs loudly reject him and his politics.
It’s become a sub-cycle in the endless campaign cycle.
The Trump campaign can hardly play a song without the artist denouncing its use and sending a cease-and-desist letter. Neil Young, John Fogerty, Phil Collins, Panic! At The Disco and the estates of Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty and Prince are just a few of those who have objected.
Campaigns have been turning popular songs into theme songs for more than a century, and American artists have been objecting at least since 1984, when Bruce Springsteen denied the use of Born in the U.S.A. to the Ronald Reagan re-election campaign. But this year, the issue has reached an unprecedented saturation point, indicative of a wide cultural divide between the President and his supporters, and overwhelmingly left-leaning musicians, who virtually never make the same demands of Democratic candidates.
“I’ve been covering this beat for probably 20 years, and this is probably as stark a division I’ve seen as far as artists not wanting a politician to use their songs,” said Billboard contributor Gil Kaufman, who has been covering the convergence of music and politics for the record trade magazine.
“The choice is so stark for a lot of
voters, and it is for musicians too.”
Few have objected as adamantly as Young.
The fiercely opinionated musician has gone beyond demands and filed a lawsuit over the repeated use of his songs.
“Imagine what it feels like to hear Rockin’ in the Free World after this President speaks, like it is his theme song,” Young wrote on his website in July.
“I did not write it for that.”
That feeling that they’ve been drafted on to Team Trump clearly fuels many artists’ anger.
“Their music is their identity,” Kaufman said.
“It’s important to them to not appear as though they are tacitly endorsing Trump.”
Legally, politicians don’t necessarily need direct permission from artists.
Campaigns can buy broad licensing packages from music rights organisations, including BMI and ASCAP, that give them legal access to millions of songs. BMI said the Rolling Stones had opted out of inclusion in those licenses, and it informed the Trump campaign that if it did not stop playing You Can’t Always Get What You Want, a Trump favourite at his rallies, the campaign would be in breach of its agreement.
But even if their songs can be played contractually, artists can still object. “A lot of the time it just takes the cease-and-desist to tell them not to use it, that’s already enough for the artist to get their message out that they’re not associated with the campaign and did not approve the use,” said Heidy Vaquerano, a Los Angeles lawyer.
And there are other legal channels, such as states’ right-of-publicity laws, which treat an artists’ identity as their property, or the federal Lanha
m Act, which protects an artist’s personal trademark and contains a provision barring false endorsement. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.