Swedish supergroup ABBA has asked Donald Trump to stop using their music at his campaign rallies, but the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign says it has permission.
“ABBA recently discovered the unauthorized use of its music and videos at a Trump event through videos that surfaced online,” the group, whose hits include “Waterloo,” “The Winner Takes It All” and “Money, Money, Money,” said in a statement to The Associated Press.
“Accordingly, ABBA and its representative promptly requested the removal and deletion of this 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 the AP.
ABBA joins a long list of artists who have objected to Trump using their songs. In the run-up to the 2020 election, this included Bruce Springsteen, RihannaPhil Collins, Pharrell Williams, John Fogerty, Neil YoungEddy Grant, Panic! at the Disco, REM 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 Trump’s team released a video clip of the artist singing the hit song “Titanic” at a rally in Bozeman, Montana, and several other campaign events. At the time, representatives said, “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 her campaign spokesman Steven Cheung posted a video of the former president exiting a plane to the singer-songwriter’s hit song from her album “Lemonade.”
“Freedom” became the official song of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign after appearing in her campaign launch video on July 25. In the weeks since, sales and streams of the song have exploded, according to Billboard.
Last week, the Trump campaign played the song “My Hero” by Foo Fighters Welcoming former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a rally in Arizona, a spokesperson for the group told CBS News: “The Foo Fighters were not asked for permission and if they had been, they would not have granted it.”
Campaigns do not need an artist’s express permission to play their songs at rallies, as long as the political organization or venue has obtained what’s called a blanket license from performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI.
According to Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, a journalist attended a Trump rally in Minnesota in July where the song “The Winner Takes It All” was played. Universal Music in Sweden said videos of ABBA songs being played at at least one Trump event had surfaced.
ABBA, which charted 20 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, released a comeback album, “Voyage,” in 2021.
