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Another week, another lawsuit against Donald Trump for using music without permission as part of his campaign. This summer has seen Defendant Don rankle artists from across many music genres: pop (Celine Dion), soul (Isaac Hayes), disco (ABBA), and alt rock (Foo Fighters), and joining them now is alt/garage/indie rock duo The White Stripes. The Trump campaign released a video in August cued up to the distinctive riff of “Seven Nation Army,” and when Jack White caught wind of it he let it be known that the message comin’ from his eyes says, leave it alone. And if he catches it comin’ back his way he’s gonna serve it to Don. And that ain’t what Trump wants to hear, but that’s what Jack’s done. He’s goin’ to Wichita— no, no, that’s it for the lyrics! But yeah, Jack and Meg White are suing Trump’s broke ass for copyright infringement:
The White Stripes are suing former president Donald Trump for featuring their acclaimed track “Seven Nation Army” in a video on social media, which they allege was used without their permission last month in a breach of federal copyright law.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in New York, Jack and Meg White accused the Republican presidential nominee of trying to burnish his public image and generate financial support for his campaign “on the backs of the Plaintiffs,” constituting a “flagrant misappropriation” of their work.
The lawsuit is the latest copyright case to plague Trump’s presidential campaign, raising questions about how to adjudicate allegations of copyright infringement in the digital era. Copyright lawyers say the cases could set an important precedent on the use of popular music in political campaigns.
The Whites, who are seeking unspecified damages, said that the fact that they “vehemently oppose the policies and actions taken by Defendant Trump” only made the alleged violation all the more offensive to them.
A spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment early Tuesday.
According to the lawsuit, which names Trump, his campaign and Deputy Director of Communications Margo Martin, the defendants published a video of Trump boarding an aircraft for campaign stops in Michigan and Wisconsin with the riff of “Seven Nation Army” playing for the duration of the video. “Defendants impermissibly synchronized the riff from [“Seven Nation Army”] with that footage,” the lawsuit alleged.
Jack White shared the X post by Martin on his Instagram account on Aug. 31, promising the lawsuit and saying, “Don’t even think about using my music.” The post was not visible on Martin’s account, nor Trump’s, as of Tuesday.
The White Stripes’ case underlines the complexity of music copyright law, says U.S. intellectual property lawyer Jason Rosenblum. “If you want to use music in a video, you need a synchronization license,” he said in an email Tuesday. Such a license is acquired through a different process than how rights are negotiated for public performances of music. Synchronization licenses typically require direct negotiation with whoever holds the rights to the recorded song, he added, usually the publisher or musician.
“If Trump’s campaign or whoever posted the video didn’t get those rights, the White Stripes should have a strong case against them,” Rosenblum said, although he cautioned that these cases aren’t always clear cut and that he wasn’t familiar with the details of this specific claim.
You see, there’s always a bright side to litigation: Trump’s endless stream of lawsuits will finally set much-needed clarifications and precedents for US music copyright infringement law, specifically as it pertains to the digital landscape! Huzzah! I realize that Trump isn’t single handedly selecting the playlist for his rallies and propaganda, but I do find it funny that he’s doing legal battle over these songs, when I don’t really get the impression that Trump is much of a music man himself? I mean, anyone who’s heard his meandering, plotless, rhetorically-painful “speeches” knows the man has no musical ear whatsoever. So why doesn’t he just pull from the Kid Rock, Amber Rose and Jason Aldean catalogs and call it a day? And those suggestions are just off the top of my head; I’m sure if Trump thought about how to license music without getting sued, he could come up with his own concepts of a plan.
LOL! Love the play on lyrics Kismet!!! I looooooovvee this song, this band. Trump is going to go broke using music/videos he hasn’t licensed. And we all know he already owes millions to E. Jean Carroll, New York State, his lawyers, etc.
He’s never going to pay, because this is not a man who pays his debts. I think the campaign is doing this very purposefully. They are using the lazy reality tv playbook – getting your name in the news is easier if you do something crappy. They will 100% keep doing it and our justice system seems fine with letting the bloated, bewigged white man continue to get away with it.
While I see that side of the argument, I see it more as being bad PR due to the fact that NO ONE wants their art associated with him and his politics.
A few thoughts…
-Agree, there are enough artists that support the orange Cheetolini so why not just use their music?
-His Team probably does this knowing it will tick off the artists therefore resulting in some free campaign PR. Any is better than none?
-Hope those Drumpf attorneys don’t expect to get paid for their work. Or if they do get paid, hope they realize it will only be a small portion of the bill.
Kid Rock, Amber Rose and Jason Aldean probably don’t own the copyrights to their songs and can’t give Trump permission to use them. The Trump campaign has inadvertently exposed how the recording industry exploits musicians.
I love Jack White’s Woody Guthrie reference.
DaveW, which is why Taylor Swift made such a boss move. She hit out about Trump using AI to make it look like she was supporting him … when she endorsed Harris. There isn’t anyway for the campaign to use bad publicity unless there is mention of Harris. Taylor is really good at PR.
Someone should make a spotify playlist of all of the different artists that have told Trump they don’t want him to use their music! But what should we call it?
I saw something on Twitter the other day, an image with a list and photos of 30+ artists/songs, like a collage — and I think someone linked to something on Spotify in the comments.
So this exists somewhere out there in the virtual world.
But I can’t remember where I saw it, one of the big Dem accounts shared it…
Too bad for Trump that Kevin Sorbo or Charlie Kirk don’t sing.
But maybe Lara could help?
Replying to myself here:
I found a list on Wiki — Musicians who oppose Donald Trump’s use of their music — that not only list the 42 (ha!) artists so far, but has additional info about artists who want to have particular rules, or laws, pertaining to this kind of use changed.
It also has links to the Artists Rights Alliance, and to further licensing laws/info about it.
Not quite as deep as a rabbit hole, but entertaining and educational at the same time.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicians_who_oppose_Donald_Trump%27s_use_of_their_music
Didn’t it come out at some point that his White House staff had to play music from “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera” to calm him down when he got mad or got his feelings hurt?
Nah, they should play classical music greats (Beethoven, Vivaldi, Mozart, etc,…) backwards at his rallies. De-composing it.
He likely sees it as his right to do whatever he wants. He disregards laws and common decency because he is the “real” president (dictator or king in his mind). And, like good cult members, his followers go along.
Well Kid Rock has plenty they can choose from: Devil without a Cause, You have never met a Mother fkr Quite like me, and Cucci Galore – those are just a few. Maybe this songs will turn off the Evangelicals he so desperately needs and the artists that DO associate with him would turn off that voting demographic.
If being a sex-offender (who admitted himself to groping women even before the first election) hasn’t done it, I doubt music choices will.
Or that Ted Nugent song “Jailbait”. Only the best people….
I don’t think of him as a music guy either, but I read an article that says that he has a playlist of music that he likes on his iPad and that he plays it every night for the diners at Mar-a-Lago.
+1 I’ve read it several times, like he plays at being dj. And that he likes a lot of musicals. I bet in his mind he’s a music person
I have always wanted to see the White Stripes back together…😅
Kismet omg lol. I love Jack and his work. So this is said with love but Jack is not the one. I wouldn’t mess with him for any reason. He will read you for filth for all time. Lmao.
I was thinking the same thing. Jack White does not F around with his art and he will absolutely shred the Trump team.
Fun fact: Hubs and I are huge JW fans. We saw the Raconteurs at a small venue in St Louis a few years ago. JW was so into the set he like tripped and fell on stage. He hopped right back up and didn’t miss a beat. That’s all. I just love him and wanted to brag about seeing him! 😘
The Raconteurs was such a good band. Consolers of The Lonely is a perfect album IMO.
That’s the first thing I thought too: Jack is not the one.
They haven’t had a hit since.
Trump looks like he listens to elevator music only.
If White Stripes is suing you, dude . . . you’ve sunk so very low lol.