ABBA calls out Trump for “unauthorized use” of their music at rallies; campaign says it has permission

Swedish supergroup ABBA has asked Donald Trump to stop using their music at campaign rallies, but the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign says it has permission.

“ABBA has recently discovered the unauthorized use of their music and videos at a Trump event through videos that appeared online,” said a statement to The Associated Press from the band, whose hits include “Waterloo,” “The Winner Takes It All” and “Money, Money, Money.”

“As a result, ABBA and its representative has promptly requested the removal and deletion of such content. No request has been received; therefore, no permission or license has been granted.”

A spokesman for the Trump campaign said it had obtained a license. “The campaign had a license to play ABBA music through our agreement with BMI and ASCAP,” the spokesperson told the AP.

ABBA joins a long list of performers who’ve objected to Trump using their songs. Ahead of the 2020 election, that included Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Phil Collins, Pharrell, John Fogerty, Neil Young, Eddy Grant, Panic! at the Disco, R.E.M. and Guns N’ Roses. In 2016, Adele asked Trump to quit playing her songs at political rallies.

This cycle, Celine Dion has asked the candidate to stop using “My Heart Will Go On” after the Trump team played a video clip of the artist singing the hit song from “Titanic” at a rally in Bozeman, Montana and several other campaign events. At the time, representatives said that in “no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use.”

Earler this month, Beyoncé blocked Trump from using her song “Freedom” after his campaign spokesman Steven Cheung posted a video of the former president exiting a plane set to the singer-songwriter’s hit song from her “Lemonade” album. 

“Freedom” became the official song for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign after appearing in her campaign launch video on July 25. In the weeks following, sales and streams of the song have ballooned, according to Billboard.

Last week, the Trump campaign played the The Foo Fighters song “My Hero” while welcoming former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a rally in Arizona. A spokesperson for the band told CBS News: “Foo Fighters were not asked permission and if they were, they would have not granted it.”

Campaigns don’t need an artist’s express permission to play their songs at rallies as long as the political organization or the venue has gotten what’s known as a blanket license from the performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI.

Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet said its reporter in July attended a Trump rally in Minnesota where “The Winner Takes it All” was played. Universal Music in Sweden said videos had surfaced of ABBA’s music being played at at least one Trump event.

ABBA, who have scored 20 songs in the Billboard Hot 100, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, released a comeback album, “Voyage,” in 2021.