Trump Just Landed Himself More Musical Legal Trouble
“Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!”
Swedish pop supergroup ABBA are torching Donald Trump for using their music without permission during a campaign event in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on Tuesday, demanding that the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign pull any footage of the rally that featured their songs.
Trump reportedly played several of ABBA’s greatest hits, including “Money, Money, Money”, “The Winner Takes It All”, and “Dancing Queen.” The event, which was geared toward a heavy Swedish demographic, also reportedly played a 10-minute clip of ABBA’s live performances, reported AFP.
The Swedes’ record company, Universal Music, told The Guardian that the campaign had not asked for permission to use the tracks and that footage from the event must be “immediately” taken down and removed.
“Together with the members of Abba, we have discovered that videos have been released where Abba’s music/videos has been used at Trump events, and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately taken down and removed,” a Universal spokesperson told The Guardian. “Universal Music Publishing AB and Polar Music International AB have not received any request, so no permission or license has been given to Trump.”
ABBA member Björn Ulvaeus told Swedish newswire TT that Universal would “[make] sure it is taken down.”
ABBA is far from the only musical group that’s gone after Trump for using their music to advance his campaign without their permission. In August alone, Trump has drawn fury from the Isaac Hayes estate, Celine Dion, and Beyoncé for the unauthorized use of their music during campaign events and advertisements.
But the roster of artists who have outright banned Trump from using their music is long and wide. They include Sinéad O’Connor, The Beatles, Adele, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, Leonard Cohen, Queen, Prince, Pharrell, The Rolling Stones, The Smiths’ Johnny Marr, Rihanna, Neil Young, Linkin Park, the late Tom Petty, the Village People, and Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler.