The Rolling Stones Threaten Trump With Lawsuit Over Song Use

The Rolling Stones are threatening President Trump with legal action due to his unauthorized use of their song “You Can't Always Get What You Want.” A statement was released which read, “BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) have notified the Trump campaign on behalf of the Stones that the unauthorized use of their songs will constitute a breach of its licensing agreement. If Donald Trump disregards the exclusion and persists, then he would face a lawsuit for breaking the embargo and playing music that has not been licensed.”

A BMI spokesperson told Deadline.com: “The Trump campaign has a Political Entities License which authorizes the public performance of more than 15 million musical works in BMI’s repertoire wherever campaign events occur. There is a provision, however, that allows BMI to exclude musical works from the license if a songwriter or publisher objects to its use by a campaign. BMI has received such an objection and sent a letter notifying the Trump campaign that the Rolling Stones’ works have been removed from the campaign license, and advising the campaign that any future use of these musical compositions will be in breach of its license agreement with BMI.”

When pressed as to whether BMI had gotten a response from the Trump campaign, they said, quote, “Not as of this date.”

Deadline posted, “A spokesperson for ABKCO, the song’s publisher, (said) that it had 'teamed up' with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to ask BMI to tell the Trump campaign to stop using their classic 1969 song at the president’s rallies.

A rep for the Stones said in a statement, “This could be the last time Trump uses any Jagger / Richards songs on his campaigns.”

Back in 2018, Mick Jagger went on record saying that he was particularly confused by Trump's choice of “You Can't Always Get What You Want,” recalling to the BBC: “He used it on everything. He used it on every rally through the election campaign. I wasn't the DJ obviously, but if I was Donald's DJ. . . it's a funny song for your play-out song. When he finished the speech, he played this out, this sort of doomy ballad about drugs in Chelsea. It's kind of weird if you think about it, but he couldn't be persuaded to use something else, it was an odd thing, very odd.”

Despite co-writing such songs as “Street Fighting Man,” “Salt Of The Earth,” “Undercover Of The Night,” “Blinded By Rainbows,” and “Sweet Neo Con,” Mick Jagger explained that he's never really been a political animal, and tries to stay as independent as he possibly can in regards to his tastes and beliefs: “I was never very keen on joining political parties. And when I was at college, I was at a very left-wing college, and I never felt the joining of it, y'know? I like football and I support Arsenal (football club). I'm not a rabid supporter, I'm not really a kind of joiner or scarf-wearer.”