The White Stripes have become the latest band to take serious offence at Donald Trump using their music.
Jack White 55, revealed on social media he and Meg White, 49, are suing the 78-year-old former president and felon for the alleged use of their hit song Seven Nation Army.
The rock duo claim Trump used the track without permission in a video posted on social media and are suing his 2024 presidential campaign for copyright infringement.
They say Trump and his campaign used the iconic opening guitar riff over a video of him boarding a plane for campaign visits in Michigan and Wisconsin last month.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, said Meg and Jack objected to the use of their 2003 hit because they ‘vehemently oppose the policies adopted and actions taken by Defendant Trump when he was President and those he has proposed for the second term he seeks,’ as per AP News.
Taking to social media with a snapshot of the suit, Jack wrote in the caption: ‘This machine sues fascists.’
His words appear to reference US singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie’s famous guitar sticker which said the same thing.
Fans shared their congratulations to the pair for taking a stand, as Instagram user helenaqua wrote: ‘I was wondering if I could be an even bigger fan, apparently I can. Go get ‘im!’
‘So much respect and admiration for you both, Jack and Meg. Standing up and following through is the best news ever!!’ said driftlessartifacts.
imisscali added: ‘I didn’t think I could love you more. But ya just did it 🇺🇸.’
This comes in a long line of musicians who have slammed the Republican for using their songs at various campaign rallies over the years.
Just last week a judge ruled Trump was to stop using the song Hold On, I’m Coming after a lawsuit from Isaaz Hayes Jr’s estate.
For artists who are unhappy with songs being used at Trump rallies – as was the case with Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Marr, Celine Dion and many others – they can object by sending cease-and-desist letters, as Pharrell Williams did after his song Happy was used in a 2018 Trump rally.
However, few of these escalate to suing with the exception with the likes of Neil Young, who filed a lawsuit in August 2020 over the use of his song Rockin’ In The Free World.
He later voluntarily dismissed the case ‘with prejudice’ meaning it cannot be brought again.
Where music is used at live events and not directly for social media content, it gets a little harder to sue as, once released, musicians have little control over where their hits are played.
However, in the case of the White Stripes, they might have more legal ammunition given fairly stringent social media copyright laws, which could apply in this case.
In 2020, musicians including Mick Jagger and Lorde signed a letter written in collaboration with the Artist Rights Alliance demanding that politicians must seek consent before using their music for campaign events.
It calls for the establishment of a clear policy that would require ‘campaigns to seek consent of featured recording artists, songwriters and copyright owners before publicly using their music in a political or campaign setting’.
The letter continued: ‘As artists, activists and citizens, we ask you to pledge that all candidates you support will seek consent from featured recording artists and songwriters before using their music in campaign and political settings.
‘This is the only way to effectively protect your candidates from legal risk, unnecessary public controversy and the moral quagmire that comes from falsely claiming or implying an artist’s support or distorting an artists’ expression in such a high stakes public way.’
Others who signed the letter included Blondie, Sheryl Crow, Green Day, Lionel Richie, Elvis Costello, Keith Richards, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Rosanne Cash.
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