EXCLUSIVE: Rolling Stones threaten to sue Donald Trump for using their songs at his rallies
The Stones in a statement on Sunday said that their legal team is working with music rights organization BMI to stop the use of their material in Trump’s reelection campaign.
“The BMI have notified the Trump campaign on behalf of the Stones that the unauthorized use of their songs will constitute a breach of its licensing agreement,’’ the Stones said.
“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.’’
This is coming after The Rolling Stones’ 1969 classic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” was played earlier this month at the close of Trump’s recent rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Stones had complained during Trump’s 2016 campaign about the use of their music to fire up his conservative base at rallies.
The music rights organization BMI provides licenses for venues to play a broad array of music and has a catalogue of more than 15 million songs that can be played at political events. Artists can opt-out of having their music played at political events, and a BMI statement says the Stones have done that.
BMI has informed the Trump campaign that if it plays Stones music again at an event, it will be in breach of its licensing agreement, the statement said.
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