I was afraid they'd do that - and even after they were told not to.

with that letter as evidence


✌🏼

A better choice would have been, "Let's Go Crazy".

I have just the video clip of him in the way I want to see him suffer the rest of his life...just lots more drool on him than usual.

I fucking knew it.

I’m shocked.

What can the musicians do to stop him? Many have asked him to stop but he doesn't listen to anyone and continues to use copyrighted music.

But that letter (Jones Day? Are you that hard up for clients?) would indicate that the Trump campaign already used that. I too hope Prince's estate sues the campaign.

has thumbed his nose at so many musical artists/bands who have demanded that he stop playing their music. Again, it just speaks to his "above the law" mentality. He truly believes he can simply do whatever he wants.

good grief

he knows how to play the capitalist system.

But it’s certainly a misdemeanor.

Another criminal act by the Trump campaign.

the licensing entity for Global Music Rights, there isn't much his estate can do.

Music licensing through the big entities isn't restricted by user - it's a neutral, venue based fees. I haven't worked with Global Music Rights, but I have licensed music from ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. There wasn't any option to reject a licensee based on who they were. So the estate can complain, but they likely don't have any legal teeth.

which has been pretty unforgiving about its use: https://www.nme.com/news/princes-label-claim-fans-singing-purple-rain-after-his-death-is-copyright-infringement-2360273

My point is, though, that if he pays the licensing fee - Global Music Rights/Universal doesn't care who he is or what he stands for.

So - it's only unforgiving to people who use it without paying the license fee. As long as the fee is paid, they don't care if it is Trump or Obama or a kid's birthday party. That's how these public performance organizations work.

if they were asked not to, even if it would be technically legal. Trump's lawyers even promised he wouldn't use it, but we know what Trump's promises are worth.

Because most people are unaware of how hard it is (from a legal perspective) to license your music broadly (so you can make a living off of it) - but pick and choose to whom you license it.

and it doesn't surprise me that they'd sell the rights to his music. He's probably spinning in his grave, though; he was very protective of his name and his work. Years ago he changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol as part of a dispute with his record label and as a way out of a contract dispute.

So it appears that sometime between 2014 (when he announced his own free-standing licensing entity) and the family transfer to Global Music rigths they at least briefly went through ASCAP.

Had they stuck with the 2014 company, they would have rights to challenge Trump's use. Since they went back to a standard public PRO, not so much.

...opened (or closed, I forget which) You Can't Always Get What You Want, with a snark, "I understand it's good for sing-alongs at rallies."

They've had their lawyers ask Trump multiple times to stop playing it as his rallies but he ignores them and does anyway. Same situation as most artists are in. They don't control licensing, if you pay the fee to play a song at an event, you can. Artists regularly ask certain politicians, please don't, and most have the courtesy to desist. But the artists usually don't have the legal right to stop them.

Jagger also mocked the incredibly "escalating firepower" at the 4th of July events in DC, under the unmentioned Trump. The Stones had been there years when there were fireworks, but this time there would be 'Tanks! And fly-overs! And Inspirational Speeches!"



Keith Richards once pulled out his knife and slammed it into a Trump property table-top, yelling at their manager to get Trump OUT of the venue - a Trump casino auditorium - or he'd take care of it himself. They didn't know who Trump was, he'd somehow wangled being the promoter (to, of course, aggrandize himself), and not only was he his usual insufferable self but had put his own name above and bigger than the Rolling Stones' on the marquee. They'd had their fill of him and had already demanded that he leave the concert hall or they wouldn't take the stage... and of course he refused.

Keith's whipping out of his trusty blade and his threat to personally evict the asshole motivated their manager sufficiently to get Trump out.

Trump was kicked out of his own building. And the show did go on!

I love that story... such a great ending.

I guess it's much easier to steal from a dead music legend than a living one.

He probably thinks (if he thinks at all) that Prince's family should be honored that he played his song.