Photo Credit: (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
Rock band Queen is seeking to block Donald Trump from using “We Will Rock You” in his campaign ad. That closely follows a complaint from the Prince Estate.
A video shared by the president on Twitter featured ‘We Will Rock You’ set to a montage from his rallies. The 1977 hit plays for the full two-minutes. Reps for the band have stated they do not agree to the use of the song; the band’s music publishers eventually had the clip removed.
A representative also confirmed the band “has already entered into a process to call for non-use of Queen song copyrights by the Trump campaign.”
That’s not the first time Donald Trump has faced opposition from artists — even this week.
The president held a rally last night in Minneapolis, where he played Prince’s “Purple Rain.” The Prince Estate soon learned of the usage and shared a letter they sent over a year ago. The letter revealed that the Trump campaign agreed not to use Prince’s music going forward.
Trump has been critical of artists who seek to prevent him from playing their music. At last night’s rally in Minnesota, Trump sharply criticized Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and even Bruce Springsteen.
“I didn’t need Beyoncé and Jay-Z, I didn’t need little Bruce Springsteen.”
Rihanna, Pharrell Williams, Aerosmith, and others have all butted heads with Trump, as well. But this is a big problem for artists, thanks to compulsory performance rights law in the U.S. — generally, as long as candidates pay for the rights, they can use whatever music they like.
Prince’s Estate may have a different leg to stand on legally, however. The secured written agreement says “going forward” the campaign will not use Prince’s music. Aerosmith took it so far as to issue a cease-and-desist to the campaign.
This isn’t the first time Queen has opposed Trump using their music, either. Back in July 2016, the band asked him to stop playing “We Are The Champions” at the RNC. Brian May said he would not have granted permission, even if Trump asked.
No this is written incorrectly
The Liberal attorneys representing Queen And Prince say no
But nice try
Exactly what have we gotten from will this loyal Democrat worship
Tipper Gore All Gores wife tried to take away the free speech of artists
Have they stiffened out the plague that is feeding off of music know as streaming as they are stiffening music and musicians out for soulless entertainers weakening American art and music.
Have they stopped the predatory practices of the Music monopolies?
Have they curbed the never ending drone of the paparazzi who pray on pain and your children?
What have they done for the arts except to enhance their own vanity?
Ask them a favor as you dine at a 50k plate dinner
See what kind of response you’ll get
Prince or Queen have no rights of censorship. They collect royalties on each play. That’s it. They cannot and do not control anything else.
These ignorant fools reveal how copyright is evil. The Founders said 14 years plus maybe 14 and then it’s all in the public domain.
The reason? To promote innovation.
What we have now is fools who are not Prince or Eddie Mercury both long dead trying to stifle use of music that is inspirational and positive. They are pure evil.