Washington DC (efe-epa).- Iconic rock band the Rolling Stones have warned United States President Donald Trump of legal action unless he stops using their songs in his campaign meetings.
In a statement sent out to the American press, the group said they had handed over the matter to their legal team and were in contact with BMI, a performing rights organization, to stop the Trump campaign from unauthorized use of their songs.
The president’s campaign had used the Rolling Stones’ song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” in its latest rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20. They had also used it earlier in a 2016 event.
“This could be the last time President Donald Trump uses Stones songs,” said the release by the Stones’ representatives, cited widely in US media.
“Despite cease and desist directives to Donald Trump in the past, the Rolling Stones are taking further steps to exclude him (from) using their songs at any of his future political campaignings,” it added.
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US President Donald J. Trump speaks during a rally inside the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, 20 June 2020. EPA-EFE FILE/ALBERT HALIM
The group said its legal team was working with BMI, which had already notified the Trump campaign on behalf of the band that “the unauthorized use of their songs will constitute a breach of its licensing agreement.”
If the US president ignores the warning and continues to use the Stones’ content, “he would face a lawsuit for breaking the embargo and playing music that has not been licensed,” the release warned.
Following the use of their song by the 2016 Trump campaign, the Rolling Stones had tweeted that they do not endorse the Republican.
This is not the first time the US president is courting controversy over the unauthorized use of songs in his meetings without permission from the artists.
Earlier this month, the family of rock musician Tom Petty, who died of a drug overdose in 2017, sent a cease and desist letter to the Trump campaign after it used his song “I Won’t Back Down” at the same rally in Tulsa.
“Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate. He liked to bring people together,” the family said in a statement published on Petty’s twitter handle
They said the president’s campaign was not authorized to use the song for a campaign that “leaves too many Americans and common sense behind.” EFE-EPA
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Photos and text: Courtesy of EFE
