Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
They try and they try. But the Rolling Stones can’t get no satisfaction. Out of Donald Trump that is.
The merry band of ageing rockers has had enough of the US President’s unauthorised playing of their music at his rallies, so now they’re looking to take legal action against him.
Working through their legal team and music rights organisation BMI, they’re determined that neither they nor their music be associated with a man it seems they’re not particularly fond of.
“The BMI have notified the Trump campaign on behalf of the Stones that the unauthorised use of their songs will constitute a breach of its licensing agreement,’” the Stones said in a statement.
“If Donald Trump disregards the exclusion and persists, then he would face a lawsuit for breaking the embargo and playing music that has not been licensed.”
The whole saga goes back to 2016, when Trump began playing You Can’t Always Get What You Want at his rallies.
Even back then, the Stones were not paid-up members of his fan club. So they asked him to stop. But he didn’t.
Tired of asking nicely, the rock band then issued a cease-and-desist order. But The Donald would neither cease nor desist, it appears.
The whole issue then seemed to fade away. Until the President’s recent rally in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma when You Can’t Always Get What You Want made a reappearance.
Now it’s gloves off. If Trump disregards the exclusion and persists, he will face a lawsuit for breaking the embargo and playing music that has not been licensed, say the Stones lawyers.
But Jagger & Co. are not the only musicians left unhappy at The Donald’s choice of music.
The family of the late Tom Petty, who made his name as the lead singer and guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, say he wouldn’t be happy with Trump’s political machine using the song I Won’t Back Down in Tulsa.
“Tom Petty would never want a song of his to be used in a campaign of hate. He liked to bring people together,” the family said. They have now issued their own cease-and-desist order.
All of which means that the next Trump rally may not quite be the rockin’ affair he had hoped.