Can Donald Trump use songs against a musician’s will?
Many stars have complained, and some have filed lawsuits
WOODY GUTHRIE’S “machine” killed fascists—or so America’s great dust-bowl balladeer wrote on his acoustic guitar. Jack White’s electric machine “sues fascists”, wrote the frontman of The White Stripes on Instagram on September 9th. The “fascist” is Donald Trump, who recently used the band’s most popular song, “Seven Nation Army”, in a campaign video. Mr White wants him to stop. He joins a long list of artists who object to Mr Trump using their music: Abba, Celine Dion, Beyoncé, Foo Fighters, the estates of Isaac Hayes and Sinéad O’Connor and Johnny Marr of The Smiths—and those are just the objectors from this year. (We’ve put together a playlist of Trump-appropriated songs.) Can they turn the music off?
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