Rock band The White Stripes add their name to an ever growing list of artists who are suing Donald Trump over the illegal use of their songs in campaign videos. The band highlight the “flagrant misappropriation” of their hit song ‘Seven Nation Army’.
ADVERTISEMENTAnother day, another unauthorized use of a song by the Trump campaign team... This time it’s rock duo The White Stripes who are suing Donald Trump over the “flagrant misappropriation” of their hit song ‘Seven Nation Army’.
The White Stripes add their name to a long list of artists who are issuing cease-and-desist letters or even suing Donald Trump for using their songs without permission.
The American rock band are suing the Republican presidential nominee over the unauthorised use of their 2003 song ‘Seven Nation Army’ in a campaign video posted last month by Margo Martin, Trump’s deputy director of communications.
The video posted on 29 August and which has since been deleted showed the former president boarding a plane to the opening riff of 'Seven Nation Army'.
At the time, Jack White wrote: “Don’t even think about using my music you fascists. Law suit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your 5 thousand others).”
Now, the singer has followed through on his threat, filing a copyright infringement suit, alongside co-band member Meg White.
According to the lawsuit (per Pitchfork), which was filed in federal court in Manhattan and lists six counts of copyright infringement, the band “vehemently oppose the policies adopted and actions taken by Defendant Trump when he was President and those he has proposed for the second term he seeks.”
The lawsuit also states that Trump and his campaign “chose to ignore and not respond to Plaintiffs’ pre-litigation efforts to resolve the matters at issue in this action,” and have instead “indiscriminately trampled on Plaintiffs’ legal rights.”
In a post shared to Instagram yesterday, Jack White captioned a copy of the legal complaint: “This machine sues fascists.”
Trump is notorious for using music at his campaign rallies without the artists’ permission. Everyone from Tom Petty, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones via Adele, Bruce Springsteen and Sinead O'Connor has issued the politician with cease-and-desist orders.
Isaac Hayes’ estate sued him for 134 counts of copywright infringement, and in August, both French artist Woodkid and Céline Dion called out the unauthorized uses of their songs at Trump’s rallies.
Dion’s song from the Oscar-winning film Titanic, ‘My Heart Will Go On’, was used at a rally in Montana. Dion’s team condemned the use, and questioned the song choice, writing: "And really, THAT song?” - proving that Trump and his campaign team seem to have little to no self-awareness when it comes to culture or the fact that his campaign feels like a sinking ship at this point.
One of the most recent cases has been Beyoncé reportedly threatening Donald Trump’s campaign with legal action for its unauthorized use of her song ‘Freedom’ in a social media video, days after the singer approved the song as the official anthem for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
According to Rolling Stone, the singer’s record label has issued a cease-and-desist letter to the Trump campaign after the former President’s spokesperson Steven Cheung posted a now-deleted video on X of Trump stepping off an airplane with the song ‘Freedom’ playing the background.
