Rolling Stones Tell Donald Trump To Stop Playing Their Songs: Can A Band Really Tell A Politician Not To Play Their Songs?

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The Rolling Stones have told Donald Trump to stop playing their songs at his campaign events, continuing the tradition of musicians telling politicians whose views they don’t like to stop playing their songs in their campaigns.

As BBC News reports, the Stones issued a statement making it clear that they never gave The Donald permission to use any of their music during his campaign.

“The Rolling Stones have never given permission to the Trump campaign to use their songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately.”

That means that the Trump campaign will no longer be able to warm up the crowd with the likes of “Brown Sugar,” “Start Me Up,” and, of course, the classic rock anthem “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

The Rolling Stones aren’t the first musical act to tell Trump to stop using their music, according to MSN. Both Adele and Aerosmith have also sent notice to the Trump campaign that their music is off-limits during his campaign stops.

Still, Trump — an avid classic rock fan — has a few other options to warm up the crowd without the Stones’ help. According to The Patriot News, Trump has also played Billy Joel and Elton John at his stops, and he’s been known to take the stage while the 1990s techno hit “Get Ready For This” plays.

Trump is hardly the first politician to run afoul of a band or musician for using their music; in fact, the tradition goes back at least as far as 1984, when Bruce Springsteen famously told Ronald Reagan to stop playing “Born In The USA,” according to Rolling Stone.

Since then, countless other musicians have told politicians to stop playing their music. Usually, a simple “Cease & Desist” letter from a lawyer does the trick. But on other occasions, the artist has been a little more colorful in their request. Consider R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe’s directive to both Trump and Ted Cruz.

“Go f**k yourselves, the lot of you – you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”

Ouch.

So what if Trump, or another politician, decided to ignore such a request and go on playing a musician’s songs at their campaign rallies anyway? Can a music artist legally stop a politician from playing their songs?

The answer to that question is somewhat complicated, but it boils down to this: probably not.

There are several issues at play in a situation like this, but the most important one, as far as the courts are concerned, is whether or not the venue hosting the campaign rally, or the campaign itself, has paid for a so-called “public performance license” from a performing rights organization such as ASCAP and BMI. Without the license, the artist can come after you for royalties; with the license, you’re probably in the clear.

However, BMI does have a clause in its contract that allows songwriters or publishers to remove their songs from such a license.

So if the artist isn’t represented by BMI but objects to a politician’s use of their song, what can they do? Simply asking the politician to stop, or threatening legal action, has traditionally been enough. Politicians don’t want, or need, a legal battle — one which would cost money and likely cause bad publicity — and so have always been happy to just let the matter drop.

So far, however, no politician has ever taken the matter to court, and in the unlikely event that such a dispute ever goes to court, there’s no real telling what would happen. The politician would have the First Amendment — which guarantees the right to free speech — on their side. However, musicians also have the right to manage their public image — and that may mean disassociating themselves with politicians they don’t like.

It’s a “legal gray area,” says the Washington Post, and one that has never been tested in court — and likely never will.

Do you think the Rolling Stones were right to ask Donald Trump to stop using their music?

[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]