Donald Trump is once again facing action over his unauthorised use of music as part of his political campaigning.
This time, though, the former president has been found liable to pay damages to Guyanese-British singer Eddy Grant, for using his song Electric Avenue in a campaign video during the 2020 election.
Eddy first began legal proceedings more than four years ago, when he issued a cease-and-desist over a video posted on Trump’s X (then still known as Twitter) account, featuring a 40-second clip of Electric Avenue.
On Friday, a judge rejected Trump’s lawyer’s argument that the video was protected under the “fair use” doctrine, which allows protected works to be used without prior permission in certain specific contexts.
Following the ruling, which means Trump is liable to pay Eddy damages as well as his legal fees (per BBC News), the singer’s lawyers issued a statement to Business Insider welcoming the decision.
“As a staunch believer of artist’s rights and the ability to control their creative output, Mr. Grant believes that the decision will help others in their fight against the unauthorised use of sound recordings and musical compositions,” they said.
“Politicians are not above the law and the court reaffirmed that.”
In the lead-up to the US presidential election in November, Trump has repeatedly made headlines thanks to artists demanding that he stop playing their music at his political rallies and campaign materials.
Just last week, The White Stripes took legal action against the Republican candidate and his team over a short promotional video using their song Seven Nation Army. This came days after a judge blocked the former president from playing a song written by Isaac Hayes at his rallies last week, following complaints from the late musician’s estate.
In the past month alone, ABBA has also requested that videos by Trump’s team featuring their hits be taken down “immediately”, while Beyoncé was reported to have sent a cease-and-desist over his use of her song Freedom (the same track which has become an anthem for the Kamala Harris campaign) in another of his videos.
Céline Dion’s team previously issued a brilliant statement in response to Trump using My Heart Will Go On at a political rally, while the Foo Fighters were forced to get creative when it emerged that the Trump camp had, in fact, sought the proper permission to use the group’s tune My Hero at campaign rallies, apparently unbeknownst to the band’s members, including frontman Dave Grohl.
