Neil Young again sues Trump campaign for playing Rockin' in the Free World at rally
The Canadian-American musician sued Trump in 2020 over unauthorised use of song at a political event.
Neil Young has once again filed suit against Trump’s campaign over the use of Rockin' in the Free World at a rally.
The rock legend has launched a $10 million lawsuit against a fundraising committee backing US President Donald Trump, accusing it of using his 1989 song without authorisation.
The Canadian-American musician says the Trump 47 Committee violated his copyright by playing the track before Trump appeared at a rally in Ohio on 12 October. The lawsuit describes the playing of the song as an "unauthorised public performance".
Young previously sued Trump’s re-election campaign in 2020 over its use of the same song and Devil's Sidewalk. He said the dispute was settled soon after.
Through his company Silver Fiddle Music, Young says the song was performed without a licence or his permission at a political event in Youngstown, Ohio, on 12 October.
In the US, campaign rallies often need a public performance licence to play music for an audience, even when the campaign has legally bought a copy of the recording.
US Congress says that because sound recordings do not carry a general public-performance right, permission is required only from the copyright holders of the musical work, and that this can be obtained either directly from those holders or through performing rights organisations.
The five-page federal complaint says Trump "was personally aware that a license would be required to play the Song at rallies," and that Young "has not, and would not, grant the required license". It also says the song has been played "numerous times at other rallies".
The 80-year-old Grammy winner, who has long opposed Trump’s politics, describes the song as "a blistering anthem that contrasts the hollow promises of American political rhetoric with the harsh realities faced by the poor, homeless and forgotten".
Young says the song is "the opposite of everything that Donald J Trump stands for".
In 2020, Young sued Trump’s re-election campaign for copyright infringement over the same song, as well as Devil's Sidewalk.
The new lawsuit says the campaign then "asserted no defence and immediately settled shortly after it was served", and promised never to use the song without permission again.
Young wrote about the case on his website on Tuesday, thanking Trump for attending so many of his shows in the 1980s and 1990s, but making clear that this did not mean he could use the music.
"I am sorry it came to this, but money and transactions are something you understand," he wrote.
Young, The Rolling Stones, Rihanna, Adele, REM and the estate of Prince have all previously objected to the president using their music at campaign events.