Since then, major artists like Rihanna, Phil Collins, Steven Tyler, Neil Young, the Foo Fighters and The Rolling Stones have objected to their music being used by Trump. Tyler even sent a cease-and-desist letter to Trump\u2019s campaign in 2018 after it used his song Livin\u2019 on the Edge.<\/p>\n
More recently, Swedish pop legends ABBA demanded Trump stop using their music after hits such as Money, Money, Money were played at a Trump rally last year, accompanied by actual footage of the band itself. Celine Dion was similarly frustrated after her Titanic classic My Heart Will Go On was used at a 2024 rally, even posting about it on social media: \u201creally, THAT song?\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
Last year, Beyonc\u00e9\u2018s team threatened to issue a cease and desist letter after a Trump campaign spokesperson used her song Freedom \u2013 a track that played a role in Kamala Harris\u2019 campaign \u2013 in a video of Trump disembarking a plane. Beyonc\u00e9 had permitted Harris to use the song, but not Trump\u2019s camp. Similarly, The White Stripes sued Trump over unauthorised use of their song Seven Nation Army in a video posted last August. This suit has since been dropped<\/a>.<\/p>\n Beyonc\u00e9 spoke at a Kamala Harris campaign rally last year.Credit: F. Carter Smith\/Bloomberg<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s use of songs from musicians who have died has also come under fire, including the use of Sinead O\u2019Connor\u2019s Nothing Compares 2U at Trump\u2019s Maryland and North Carolina rallies last year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is no exaggeration to say that Sinead would have been disgusted, hurt and insulted to have her work misrepresented in this way by someone who she herself referred to as a \u2018biblical devil\u2019,\u201d O\u2019Connor\u2019s estate representatives said in Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump isn\u2019t the first politician to use popular music to drive their messaging home. But is it legal to use other people\u2019s music like this?<\/p>\n It\u2019s usually allowed due to blanket licensing<\/a>, which grant broad permissions for the public use of certain songs. As long as the political party has obtained a public performance licence (typically through a Performing Rights Organisation like the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers or BMI<\/a>) to play music in public, it\u2019s generally legal.<\/p>\n There are, of course, some exceptions. Musicians are permitted to object to unauthorised use of their work in campaign advertisements, and political figures cannot use songs in a way that suggests the artist endorses the political message.<\/p>\n![\"Beyonc\u00e9](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/81d2c9da3193e7ea75d908086b403618bff491ec.jpeg\")
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