Swedish supergroup ABBA has asked Donald Trump to stop using their music at campaign rallies, but the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign says it has permission.
“ABBA recently learned that their music and videos were used unauthorized at a Trump event, via videos that appeared online,” said a statement to The Associated Press from the band, which has had hits including “Waterloo,” “The Winner Takes It All” and “Money, Money, Money.”
“As a result, ABBA and its representative immediately requested the removal and destruction of such content. No request was received; therefore, no permission or license was granted.”
A Trump campaign spokesman said it had obtained a license. “The campaign had a license to play ABBA music through our agreement with BMI and ASCAP,” the spokesman told AP.
ABBA joins a long list of artists who have objected to Trump’s use of their songs before the 2020 election, including Bruce Springsteen, RihannaPhil Collins, Pharrell, John Fogerty, Neil JongEddy Grant, Panic! in the disco, BRAKE and Guns N’ Roses. In 2016, Adele asked Trump to stop playing her songs at political rallies.
This cycle, Celine Dion asked the candidate to stop using “My Heart Will Go On” after the Trump team played a music video of the artist singing the hit from “Titanic” at a rally in Bozeman, Montana, and several other campaign events. At the time, representatives said that “this use is not authorized in any way, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use.”
Earlier this month, Beyoncé blocked Trump from using her song “Freedom” after campaign spokesman Steven Cheung posted a video of the former president stepping off a plane to the beat of the singer-songwriter’s hit single from her album “Lemonade.”
“Freedom” became the official song of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign after it appeared in her campaign launch video on July 25. In the weeks since, sales and streams of the song have skyrocketed, according to Billboard.
Last week the Trump campaign played the song “My Hero” by The Foo Fighters while welcoming former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a rally in Arizona. A spokesperson for the band told CBS News, “Foo Fighters was not asked for permission and if they had been, they would not have granted it.”
Campaigns do not need express permission from an artist to play their songs at rallies, as long as the political organization or venue has obtained a so-called blanket license from the performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI.
Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reported that its reporter attended a Trump rally in Minnesota in July where “The Winner Takes it All” was playing. Universal Music in Sweden reported that videos had surfaced of ABBA’s music being played at at least one Trump event.
ABBA, which charted 20 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, released a comeback album, “Voyage,” in 2021.
