Trump Campaign Fires Back at Musicians Who Don't Want Their Songs Played at His Rallies

Donald Trump's campaign is not staying silent on artists preventing him from using their songs at his rallies.

After the former president embarked on a 39-minute musical interlude at one of his campaign events, the Republican National Committee has responded to the criticism.

RNC spokesperson Taylor Rogers spoke to Billboard and noted that the Trump campaign has appropriate licenses from performing rights organizations BMI and ASCAP to play the music heard at his Pennsylvania rally.

"It's a shame that some artists want to limit half of the country from enjoying their music," Rogers said.

The event in Pennsylvania was intended to be a Q&A before Trump halted the questions and instead embarked on a journey where he played several different songs and artist for nearly 40-minutes.

"Let's not do anymore questions. Let's just listen to music. We'll do a little music. Let's make this a musical-fest," he said.

During the musical interlude, Trump played songs like Ave Maria and Rufus Wainwright's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," as well as Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U."

Wainwright spoke about Trump using his cover at his rally, where he said he was "mortified."

"The song 'Hallelujah' by Leonard Cohen has become an anthem dedicated to peace, love and acceptance of the truth. I've been supremely honored over the years to be connected with this ode to tolerance. Witnessing Trump and his supporters commune with this music last night was the height of blasphemy," he said on Instagram.

The estate of O'Connor also previously asked Trump to stop using her cover of Prince's classic song before the rally took place.

One person who does approve of Trump using his songs is Victor Willis of the Village People.

In an interview with TMZ he said that Trump is legally allowed to use "Y.M.C.A." at his campaign rallies since he previously applied for a political use license from Victor's performing-rights organization, BMI.

"Trump's use of 'Y.M.C.A.' has greatly benefited the song. For example, when Trump started using 'Y.M.C.A.' the song shot back up to #2 on Billboard's digital chart," he told the outlet.

Willis did go on to note that he does not support the Republican nominee despite his approval of the song being used.

Tags

Donald Trump, Sinead O'Connor, Rufus Wainwright