Another rally, and another unauthorized use of an artist’s music by the Trump campaign. This time, ABBA claims the Trump campaign did not get permission from the Swedish group to play their music at a rally in Minnesota.
Trump specifically relied on ABBA’s music during his July 27 rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, the state with the largest Swedish population. In addition to playing songs like “Dancing Queen,” “Money, Money, Money” and “The Winner Takes It All,” the rally also featured ABBA video footage, again without permission.
Eventually, news of Trump's use of ABBA spread across social media and the Atlantic, all the way to Sweden, where the group's Björn Ulvaeus told a local news agency that ABBA's record label Universal Music “will make sure the song is removed.”
Universal Music issued a statement on Thursday seeking to prevent the Trump campaign from using ABBA's music again.
“In collaboration with ABBA members, we have discovered that videos have been released where ABBA music/videos have been used at Trump events, and have therefore requested that this use be removed immediately,” the company said (via the BBC), adding that Universal “has not received any request” from the campaign, “so no permission or license has been granted to Trump.”
For ABBA, Trump’s unauthorized use of music has long been a Waterloo: Just this month, Celine Dion asked them to stop playing “My Heart Will Go On,” and the Isaac Hayes Foundation is suing for $3 million over the continued use of “Hold On, I’m Coming” at campaign rallies.
Trump has received similar complaints in the past for using songs by Tom Petty, Rihanna, the Rolling Stones, the Village People, John Fogerty, Aerosmith, Linkin Park and Journey, and recently added the Foo Fighters and Beyoncé to his list of favorite songs last week.
