EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump may be looking for a new exit song in his campaign rallies now that the Rolling Stones and the IMC have notified him and threatened to sue if he ever uses any of his songs licensed by the giant performance rights organization. And now, performing rights group ASCAP says Trump will also not be allowed to use any of the Stones’ songs in his repertoire, a playlist that includes “Start Me Up,” “Emotional Rescue,” “Waiting For a friend “and” Angie “.
“At this time, the Trump 2020 campaign has not applied for an ASCAP license and therefore ASCAP is not currently authorized to perform any songs in the ASCAP repertoire (unless they have licensed those works directly),” said one ASCAP spokesperson to Deadline. “As is our practice with all campaigns, if the Trump 2020 campaign requests an ASCAP license, ASCAP will inform the music campaign that it is excluded from our license once the license agreement is executed. Currently, ASCAP members who have asked for their songs to be excluded from the Trump 2020 campaign’s ASCAP licensing deal include Neil Young, Tom Petty’s estate, and ASCAP-licensed works of The Rolling Stones. ” .
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Like BMI, ASCAP has a Political Campaign License agreement that provides “a general license to perform any or all of the millions of compositions in the ASCAP repertoire. However, ASCAP members may request ASCAP to exclude specific songs. of the license of a particular political campaign. In that case, ASCAP will notify the campaign of the excluded works. “
ASCAP has over 11.5 million licensed songs, and BMI has about 15 million.
Numerous other acts have publicly opposed the use of his songs at Trump campaign rallies in the past four years, including Neil Young, whose “Rockin ‘in the Free World” was played when Trump announced his candidacy after descending a ladder. mechanic at Trump Tower. in New York in June 2015; Queen for his use of “We Are the Champions” at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland; Rihanna, for using her hit song “Don’t Stop the Music” at a 2018 Trump rally in Tallahassee, FL; Pharrell Williams, whose Oscar-nominated “Happy” was played at a Trump rally hours after 11 people were killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue in October 2018; Panic! at Disco’s Brendon Urie, whose “High Hopes” played at the Trump event in Phoenix this week; and the inheritance of Tom Petty, whose “I’m Not Going Back” was also played at the Trump rally last week in Tulsa.
