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Abba has become the latest musical act to demand that Donald Trump stop using their music at his rallies.
The former president reportedly played several of the Swedish pop group’s songs to hype up the crowd at his rally in St Cloud, Minnesota – the state with the highest population of Swedish-Americans – on Tuesday (August 27).
Footage showing the band’s four members was also projected on a big screen alongside calls for donations, according to Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
The “Dancing Queen” hitmakers and their record company, Universal Music, have since become aware of clips from Trump’s events with Abba’s music playing in the background and have demanded the videos be “immediately taken down and removed.”
“Together with the members of Abba, we have discovered that videos have been released where Abba’s music/videos has been used at Trump events,” a spokesperson for Universal Music shared in a statement to The Guardian, “and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately taken down and removed.
“Universal Music Publishing AB and Polar Music International AB have not received any request, so no permission or licence has been given to Trump,” they added.
The four-piece group made up of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad join a growing list of artists hitting out at the Republican candidate over the unauthorized use of their music.
Last week, Beyoncé threatened the Trump campaign with a cease-and-desist after the Republican party attempted to co-opt the superstar’s 2016 song “Freedom,” which the Harris campaign adopted as its unofficial anthem.
The next day, the Trump campaign quietly deleted the social media video that showed the Republican nominee deplaning in Michigan with Beyoncé’s hit song playing in the background.
On the other hand, Kamala Harris’s team was reportedly given permission to use the song through to the November election.
That same week, the Trump campaign was hit with a multi-million dollar lawsuit by the estate of the late singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes for allegedly using the song “Hold On, I’m Coming” at Republican rallies and in campaign videos without permission.
Trump and his running mate Ohio Senator JD Vance were also mocked by music legend Céline Dion for playing her Titanic soundtrack song “My Heart Will Go On” at a Montana rally.
“Really, THAT song?” Dion’s management team and label wrote on social media. “In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use.”
There has been a stark contrast in the music featured at the two party’s rallies.
While the Democratic National Convention turned their roll-call into a dance party with an eclectic playlist of current hits (Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso”) and timeless classics (Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground”), the Republican National Convention had to make do with country singers Lee Greenwood, Chris Janson and Kid Rock.
