MUSIC – And we’re turning off the sound. The record label of the iconic Swedish pop group ABBA announced Thursday, August 29, that it had asked Donald Trump to stop using its hits during his campaign for the American presidency.
Donald Trump is using Celine Dion’s song “Titanic” and she doesn’t understand why either
Universal Music in Sweden says it has spotted several of the group’s songs played at least once during the former Republican president’s campaign events. “We have requested that [these songs] be removed,” Universal Music AB said in an email to AFP.
“Universal Music Publishing AB and [the record label] Polar Music International AB have not received any requests [to use these songs], so no permission or license has been given to Trump,” the group added.
Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reports that one of its journalists attended a Trump rally in Minnesota, home to a large Swedish community, on July 27, during which one of ABBA’s hits, The Winner Takes it All, was played. An old ten-minute video clip of the group was projected on a giant screen showing ABBA performing some of their greatest hits, including Money, Money, Money and Dancing Queen.
Trump VS the artists
Other musical celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Celine Dion and the Rolling Stones have asked the Republican candidate to stop playing their songs during the campaign.
And while Beyoncé has threatened the Republican candidate with a formal notice to stop using her song Freedom, the song has ironically become the unofficial anthem of the presidential campaign of… Kamala Harris, who has made it a central part of her public appearances. And for that, Beyoncé has given her all the rights.
And it’s not just Trump’s rally playlists that are problematic. The latest example is that of Jack White, a founding member of the band The White Stripes, who reacted on Thursday, August 29, on Instagram to the publication of a video by Donald Trump’s deputy communications director, Margo Martin.
In this promotional video (now deleted), we can see the former American president boarding a plane, while the famous hit Seven Nation Army accompanies him. Enough to inspire a particularly salty response from the American musician.
“Don’t even think about using my music, you bunch of fascists. My lawyers will file a lawsuit over this (to add to your 5,000 others),” he wrote ironically, well aware of adding his name to an ever-growing list of artists.
