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Hours before President Trump hit the Tennessee University scene in Chattanooga on Sunday night, Rihanna's film "Do not Stop the Music" resounded in the 11,000-seat McKenzie Arena. "Trump rallies do not look like anything else in politics," Washington Post's Philip Rucker wrote on Twitter. scene: Staff members throw free Trump t-shirts into the crowd "like a ball game" lines stretch out in front of the door.
"Keep it up," sang Rihanna's recorded voice. "Please, do not stop, please, do not stop, please, do not stop the music. "
But when the pop star learned that her 2007 hit song was presented at the rally, her answer was unequivocal: she actually wanted the music to stop.
"Not for long," she tweeted, in response to Trump's use of her song at Sunday's rally. "… neither I nor my people will ever participate in one of these tragic gatherings or near them."
The Barbadian singer can not vote in the United States, but she did not hide her political inclination: she criticized the president aloud. Last year, she called him an "immoral pig" after signing a decree banning the entry into the United States of seven Muslim-majority countries in January 2017, and criticizing his response to the hurricane-related disaster. Maria in Puerto Rico.
A few weeks before the 2016 elections, Rihanna was seen wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Hillary Clinton's screenprinted face. After Trump's inauguration, she ran for the women's walk in New York, wearing a pink sweatshirt and a matching pink tutu, then stamped in front of the Trump Tower.
But can she really prevent Trump from playing his music during his campaign events?
The answer is complicated. When a politician wishes to use a song as background music at a rally, his campaign requires a public performance license of the copyright holder of the musical composition, rather than that of the performer, has explained intellectual property lawyer Danwill Schwender in an article published in 2017 in "American Music", scholarly journal published by University of Illinois Press. The radio and television commercials are another story: the owner of the sound recording, usually the artist's label, will have to license the song for the campaign.
In the United States, the copyright rights of most musical compositions belong to one of the two performing rights organizations: the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) or Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), which manages 23.5 million songs. In 2012, Bender created a separate license for political entities, which allows musicians to withdraw if they do not want their song to be used at a rally. ASCAP has put in place a similar provision, according to NPR.
[From Elton John to Eminem to Peggy Lee: Trump’s bizarre history with pop music]
Adele musicians to Neil Young have asked Trump to stop playing their songs during his campaign stops and some have taken advantage of this clause. In October 2015, Aerosmith group leader Steven Tyler asked the Trump campaign to stop playing "Dream On" at rallies. BMI obtained the rights of public performance of the song. (Trump's rally on Aug. 21 in Charleston, West Virginia, featured Aerosmith's "Livin & # 39; On The Edge", prompting another Tyler letter to stop abstaining. ) "In 2016, the band chose to exclude the song from its use for future political events.
As the Washington Post's Amy B Wang reported last week after Pharrell Williams asked Trump to stop using his 2013 "Happy" hit during political events, ASCAP warns politicians that even if a campaign had obtained permission to use a song, they should still get permission from the artist. According to ASCAP guidelines, disgruntled artists could sue under the Lanham law, which aims to prevent the dilution of the trademark of a trademark through unauthorized use or under "Advertising right" laws that protect the image of known artists. .
But like Forbes' Melinda Newman, "the problem is that neither one nor the other artist or songwriter seems to have ever brought the case to court by invoking a violation by a campaign – or at least as far as possible we could find. "
Meanwhile, Trump likes to finish his rallies with "You can not always get what you want" Rolling Stones, even if it goes against the wishes of the group. And the group can not do much to stop it, said Mick Jagger in 2016.
"So the problem is when you appear in America. . . If you are in a public place like Madison Square Garden or a theater, you can play the music of your choice and you can not stop, "said Jagger during a Q & A session on Twitter. "So if you write a song and someone plays it in a restaurant where you go, you can not stop it. They can play what they want. "
Most typical campaign event sites, such as arenas and convention centers, will already have a general license granted by an RMO, Schwender said. And that's why "Sweet Child O 'Mine" is played in Trump rallies despite contrary demands from Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose said Sunday.
"Unfortunately, the Trump campaign uses loopholes in the global representation licenses of the various sites that were not intended for such far-fetched political purposes without the consent of the songwriters," he said. wrote on Twitter.
In his article, Schwender noted that the CNR could theoretically use a convention center license to play "We are the champions" of Queen and assert that the site license cancels and replaces the campaign license – or its absence.
"Although a spokesman for BMI said that it would be" not appropriate ", using a song as random background music as opposed to" music theme "of the same. a campaign can change the analysis, "he writes. "The courts have not yet tested this argument."
For musicians, the pursuit of such a lawsuit is unprofitable. And it is still possible that the campaign will voluntarily choose to stop playing Rihanna's music at his request, as was the case for Young in 2015. However, in the meantime, Rihanna's position has been hailed by some Democratic politicians. .
"Good for @rihanna" wrote Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) On Twitter. "@RealDonaldTrump has also chosen the wrong song. The "Russian roulette" or the "Rude Boy" would not suit him anyway? "
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