Please, Please, Please Stop Using My Song: Can Artists Force Politicians to Lay Off Their Music?

Dozens of top artists and songwriters have objected to Donald Trump‘s use of their songs at political rallies since he first ran for president in 2015 — among them The Rolling Stones, Adele, Rihanna, Sinead O’Connor‘s estate and Aerosmith‘s Steven Tyler. 

“Consider this s— shut down right now,” Johnny Marr said in January when Trump played The Smiths‘ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” at several rallies. After Trump used Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’” at a 2022 NRA rally, its co-writer, David Porter, was even more succinct, tweeting: “Hell to the NO!”

But artists’ record for successful song takedowns has been spotty. After Tyler’s reps sent multiple cease-and-desist orders objecting to the use of Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” they received the following response from law firm Jones Day: “Without admitting liability, and to avoid any future dispute … the Trump Campaign will not use your client’s music,” the letter read in part. 

Yet as recently as July 31, in Harrisburg, Pa., Trump has been using “Hold On, I’m Comin'” to close his rallies — prompting the estate of co-writer Isaac Hayes to announce it would take legal action. According to James L. Walker Jr., an attorney for Hayes Enterprises, the estate is “investigating” the Trump campaign’s use of the song and is considering a lawsuit. “Everything’s on the table,” he says. “It is most unfortunate that these artists have publicly posted on their social media and asked Team Trump and other candidates not to use their music — and yet their candidates keep using their music.” 

(The Trump campaign did not respond to interview requests.)

For artists and songwriters, the objection process is simple and the rules straightforward. Performing rights organizations BMI and ASCAP require political campaigns to obtain licenses to use songs in their catalogs (which is to say, almost any recognizable song). “That license gives the campaign the right to use any one of our musical works in our entire catalog wherever their campaign or function occurs,” says a BMI rep. (According to rules from both ASCAP and BMI, a venue’s public performance license is not enough to cover a campaign’s use of the song — it needs to obtain a separate political license.)

A “caveat” in the license allows songwriters to object to usage in a political campaign, the BMI rep adds: “When we receive an objection, we will pull a song from the campaign’s license.”

Does that stop a political campaign from playing the song at a rally? Not necessarily. “They don’t care as much about artists’ rights as perhaps you’d want,” says Larry Iser, who was an attorney for Jackson Browne when the singer-songwriter sued Republican candidate John McCain for using “Running On Empty” in a 2008 commercial. (They settled, and McCain apologized.)

“It’s not just the Trump campaign,” Iser adds. “Most political campaigns aren’t keen about just taking the song down.”

So what do artists and songwriters typically do in this scenario? For starters, their lawyers send cease-and-desist letters to the campaign. They also complain to reporters, creating negative media coverage. In 2020, The Rolling Stones threatened the Trump campaign with a lawsuit for playing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at rallies, while Neil Young sued over the campaign’s use of “Devil’s Sidewalk” and “Rockin’ in the Free World” at events. (After the 2020 election, Young voluntarily dropped his suit “with prejudice,” meaning he cannot refile the same claim again. Trump appears to have stopped using the Stones song at his rallies, and the band was never reported to have followed through on its legal threat; representatives for the Stones did not respond to questions.)

While “no artist wants to spend money on litigation if it can be avoided,” says Iser, they also want “to be sure fans understand the artist is not supporting that particular candidate.”

The issue gets more complicated when campaigns stream their rallies online via YouTube or another website. In those cases, the song use would almost certainly require an additional synch license, plus permission to use a recording, and probably a mechanical license, too. “Your ASCAP license does not cover you making a copy and redistributing it over the internet,” says Eleanor M. Lackman, a partner and copyright attorney at law firm Mitchell Silberberg and Knupp. As for social media sites, which generally have licenses with major labels and publishers for users to broadcast songs in their feeds, a TikTok spokesperson said the company would respond to a rightsholder’s request for a takedown depending on the type of use and the song’s contractual situation: “If a licensed rightsholder submits a takedown request, it will be subject to review and — if appropriate — we may take action to mute the track.” (A rep for Meta declined to comment.)

Trump has been uniquely unfazed by artists’ legal threats and criticism, but these conflicts had been coming up for years prior to his first presidential run. In 1988, George H.W. Bush‘s campaign used Bobby McFerrin‘s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” as a presidential campaign theme, but McFerrin, a supporter of Bush’s opponent Michael Dukakis, complained — and the campaign eventually stopped using the song. In 2008, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave asked Democratic candidate Barack Obama to stop using “Hold On, I’m Comin'” at rallies because Moore didn’t want it to appear like he was endorsing a candidate for president — and Obama’s campaign complied.

In other words, these types of conflicts are hardly new. “Every four years,” Lackman says, “this is the big topic.”