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Artists Who Object to Trump Using Their Songs From Celine Dion and Isaac Hayes' Estate: How It Works

Celine Dion appears at a special screening of "I Am: Celine Dion" at Alice Tully Hall in New York on June 17, 2024, in New York, left, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on July 31, 2024. (AP Photo)
Celine Dion appears at a special screening of "I Am: Celine Dion" at Alice Tully Hall in New York on June 17, 2024, in New York, left, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on July 31, 2024. (AP Photo)
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Artists Who Object to Trump Using Their Songs From Celine Dion and Isaac Hayes' Estate: How It Works

Celine Dion appears at a special screening of "I Am: Celine Dion" at Alice Tully Hall in New York on June 17, 2024, in New York, left, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on July 31, 2024. (AP Photo)
Celine Dion appears at a special screening of "I Am: Celine Dion" at Alice Tully Hall in New York on June 17, 2024, in New York, left, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on July 31, 2024. (AP Photo)

Pop powerhouses, American classics, British artists and the estates of deceased legends — many musicians have objected to Donald Trump using their songs at campaign events.
After a video of Celine Dion performing her hit “My Heart Will Go On” was broadcast at a Trump campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana last weekend, the response from her team was swift.
“In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use,” a statement posted on social media read. "...And really, THAT song?”
Dion joins a long list of performers who've objected to Trump using their songs. Ahead of the 2020 election, that included Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Phil Collins, Pharrell, John Fogerty, Neil Young, Eddy Grant, Panic! at the Disco, R.E.M. and Guns N' Roses.
It also includes the estates of deceased performers, too, like Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty and Prince, as well as English acts from across the pond, like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Adele, The Associated Press said.
However, Trump has obtained the cosign from a few celebrity musicians, including Kid Rock and Lee Greenwood, known for his patriotic anthem, “God Bless the USA.” Also heard at Trump's rally Thursday in Asheville, North Carolina: “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People.
Who has recently rebuked the use of their songs by the Trump campaign? Since the 2020 election, several artists have objected to the use of their music at Trump rallies. The Smiths' “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” played at a few Trump events, including a rally in Rapid City, South Dakota last September and in January of this year at a rally in Laconia, New Hampshire. On X, the Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr wrote, "Ahh...right...OK. I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass. Consider this s—- shut right down right now.”
In 2022, David Porter, one of the songwriters behind Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Coming," tweeted “Hell to the NO!” after learning Trump used the song at an NRA rally. (In 2017, it should be pointed out, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave performed “America the Beautiful” at a pre-inauguration concert for Trump.)
Fast forward to Monday, when the son of the late soul singer Isaac Hayes, whose father co-wrote “Hold On, I’m Coming,” announced on social media that he and his family have threatened legal action against Trump “for 134 counts copyright infringement for the unauthorized use of the song ‘Hold On I’m Coming’ at campaign rallies from 2022-2024.”
Can artists legally object to their songs being used in political campaigns? Yes, however, artists rarely have full control over where, when, and how their music is played. Performing rights organizations that represent most recognizable recorded music — ASCAP and BMI — require political campaigns to obtain licenses that allow them to use large troves of songs from their vast catalogs.
That means a political campaign does not have to do individual negotiations over every song used.
If a political license is acquired, artists can object to its use, and the song is pulled from the license.
The issue, of course, is that not every campaign immediately honors those requests.
And it is important to note that these political licenses go beyond a public performance license, which allows venues to play copyrighted music.
What are some other examples of artists objecting to the use of their songs in campaigns? Continuing with “Hold On, I'm Coming”: In 2008, Moore asked former President Barack Obama, then still a candidate, to stop using the song. He didn't want it to be considered an endorsement. They complied.
After Obama was elected president, Moore performed at the Creative Coalition’s Inaugural Ball alongside Sting and Elvis Costello.
How do artists stop politicians from using their songs? They can send cease-and-desist letters, like Pharrell Williams did after his song "Happy” was played at a Trump rally in 2018. John Fogerty did the same in October 2020 over the Trump campaign's use of “Fortunate Son” by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Few escalate to the point of suing, but it is not unheard of: Neil Young filed a lawsuit in August 2020 over the Trump campaign’s use of his music including “Rockin’ in the Free World." He later voluntarily dismissed the case “with prejudice," which means it cannot be brought again.
Eddy Grant sued Trump in September over the use of his 1980s hit “Electric Avenue” in a Trump campaign animated video that mocked Joe Biden.

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The Humor and Heartache of Gena Rowlands

The Oscar-nominated performer brought her deep range of emotion and expression to a number of original and moving films. Patrick HERTZOG / AFP
The Oscar-nominated performer brought her deep range of emotion and expression to a number of original and moving films. Patrick HERTZOG / AFP
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The Humor and Heartache of Gena Rowlands

The Oscar-nominated performer brought her deep range of emotion and expression to a number of original and moving films. Patrick HERTZOG / AFP
The Oscar-nominated performer brought her deep range of emotion and expression to a number of original and moving films. Patrick HERTZOG / AFP

US actress Gena Rowlands, whose six-decade career garnered Oscar nominations and other acclaim, died Wednesday at age 94.
No official cause of death was immediately given, but her son Nick Cassavetes said earlier this year she had been battling Alzheimer's disease for five years.
The Oscar-nominated performer brought her deep range of emotion and expression to a number of original and moving films that are considered classics of US independent cinema, most shot by her late husband, John Cassavetes.
For three decades starting in the 1960s, the couple formed an enchanting and explosive on-screen partnership that explored themes of passion and self-destruction against a backdrop of alcohol and infidelity.
In what many consider her finest role, Rowlands captured to devastating effect a descent into mental illness in 1974's "A Woman Under the Influence," bringing her the first of two Oscar nominations.
"Incapable of an unreal moment," said Woody Allen of the actress, whom he cast in his 1988 film "Another Woman."
"Whatever I say about Gena isn't enough because she's so incredible," said Winona Ryder, quoted in the LA Times in 1992 when the two co-starred in Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth."
"There's a nobility, strength and class to her work that nobody else holds a candle to, and she's so beautiful -- you just kind of marvel at the way she moves."
Making it true
From her earliest work there were shades of Marilyn Monroe in Rowlands -- the blonde hair in a wavy bob, the arresting on-screen beauty, and the undertone of sadness and vulnerability in her performances.
But she always challenged the idea of women as objects of desire in her performances and came of age as Monroe went through her own struggles, finally ending with her suicide in 1962.
"She can just play. Give her anything and she'll always be creative. She doesn't try to make it different –- she just is," said Cassavetes in a 2001 interview collection.
"Gena is very dedicated and pure. She doesn't care if it's cinematic, doesn't care where the camera is, doesn't care if she looks good -– doesn't care about anything except that you believe her."
A woman falling
Rowlands was born on June 19, 1930, in Cambria, Wisconsin, into a cultured middle-class family. Her father was a state senator and her mother was a painter and occasional actress.
She enrolled in New York's American Academy of Drama and in 1953 met Cassavetes, a fast-talking and exuberant Greek-American. A year later they were married.
It was their collaboration that generated her stand-out performances, the highlight arguably being "A Woman Under the Influence," which also brought an Oscar nomination for Cassavetes as director.
Rowlands was captivating as housewife Mabel, who descends into madness after years of quiet, complicated dominance by her hardworking and silent husband, played by Peter Falk.
In a rare moment of defiance, and one of Rowlands's most memorable scenes, Mabel fights back, rising at the table after a meal of spaghetti with friends and family, pleading to everyone to stand up for her -- just this one time.
The room is silent, and soon Mabel is institutionalized. When she emerges she is a shadow of her former, vivacious self.
The impact of the film and Rowlands's performance "has resonated throughout the American cinema ever since," said The New Yorker in 2013, citing Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee as two Hollywood figures under her influence.
Glorious 'Gloria'
One of her last films with Cassavetes was the more irreverent "Gloria," a 1980 gangster comedy about a woman on the run from the mob, in high heels, wielding a revolver and with a small child in tow.
Taking on the role with evident glee, in turns self-mocking and entirely convincing, Rowlands earned a second Oscar nomination and the film was awarded the top prize at the Venice Film Festival.
In 1989, Cassavetes died from liver failure after years of alcoholism. Rowlands continued to make films and also worked in television, winning four Emmys.
She and Cassavetes had three children, all of whom have gone on to have careers in film and television. Her son Nick directed her in "The Notebook" alongside Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in 2004.
In 2012, she married her second husband, retired businessman Robert Forrest, and in 2015 was awarded an honorary Academy Award, the same year she retired from acting.