UNITED STATES. (Efe) – Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts from the British rock group Rolling Stones are threatening U.S. President Donald Trump with justice if he continues to use one of their songs “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” in his political campaigns.
The rockers are attached to the U.S. music copyright protection agency, BMI, which has announced that any use of a work by the legendary British group during Trump’s November election campaign for re-election would violate the licensing agreement with the organization.
“The BMI has informed the Trump campaign team on behalf of the Stones that unauthorized use of their songs would violate their licensing agreement,” reads a statement issued by the Hollywood-based information portal Deadline. The Deadline article was retweeted by the legendary group’s official Twitter account.
BMI warns Donald Trump Campaign to stop playing Rolling Stones songs: https://t.co/DWZ26dCglg
— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) June 27, 2020
Trump’s campaign used the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at their latest rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, although they did so for the first time at a rally in 2016.
“Despite Donald Trump’s cease-and-desist directives in the past, the Rolling Stones are taking additional measures to prevent him from using their songs in the future in any of his political campaigns,” the statement warns. “In case Donald Trump ignores this and persists, he will be prosecuted for violating copyrights and playing unauthorized music,” they said.
Several artists have refused to let Donald Trump use their music. Recently, the family of Tom Petty, who died in 2017 from an overdose, warned President Trump not to use “I Won’t Back Down” at the Tulsa rally. In a tweet, Petty’s family felt that, in addition to not having been authorized, the singer would never have wanted his song used “in a hate campaign”.
The rock group Queen also banned using one of their most famous songs, “We Are the Champions,” in an appearance by Donald Trump at the Republican convention in 2016. The group had explained on Twitter that their song was used “against their will”. Adele, R.E.M, Neil Young… several artists or their heirs also denounced the use of their work in Republican activities.
