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Swedish pop group ABBA has reportedly asked Donald Trump's campaign not to use their songs during his election campaign. The Guardian, on August 29, reported that the band’s hit songs like The Winner Takes It All, Money Money Money and Dancing Queen, were played at Trump’s event in St. Cloud, Minnesota. A video footage of the band’s members was also shown on a big screen at the stadium.
The pop group’s record company Universal Music noted that Donald Trump’s campaign did not seek permission to use their music or videos. Hence, the company demanded the footage from the event be immediately taken down. Soon after the news went viral, netizens poured in their reactions over the incident.
“Make Abba Growl Again,” a Reddit user wrote.
“It would be so much less embarrassing to just use music from his cult. Granted that music mostly s***s but at least he knows Kid Rock wouldn't say no. Then again the word no has never really stopped Trump,” another person commented.
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“eventually he’s gonna be down to nothing but Kid Rock and Ted Nugent,” a netizen reacted.
Many commented on the lack of legality over political affiliation in music. Others wrote about the absence of the band’s ownership over their songs.
“This has happened SO many times over the last 25 years that you'd think artists would have inserted some sort of ‘political affiliation’ clause into their licensing deals by now,” one person reacted.
“Abba probably has no ownership of their songs. They can scream at the orange man, and nothing will happen,” another Reddit user commented.
“At this point I suspect they are playing music they know they will get asked to stop playing just for these headlines,” one netizen responded.
Before ABBA, Donald Trump’s campaign used music by artists like Celine Dion
ABBA is not the first musical band to condemn Trump’s campaign from playing its music. Before that, singer Celine Dion and the band Foo Fighters expressed their objection to using their music.
On August 11, the My Heart Will Go On singer released a statement on her X handle saying,
“Today, Celine Dion’s management team and her record label, Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., became aware of the unauthorized usage of the video, recording, musical performance, and likeness of Celine Dion singing “My Heart Will Go On” at a Donald Trump / JD Vance campaign rally in Montana. In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use.”
Reportedly, Beyoncé also objected to Donald Trump using her song Freedom, as the track is already being used for Kamala Harris’s campaign. This happened after a video was posted by Trump’s spokesman Steven Cheung, in which Trump was seen getting off a plane with the song being played in the background. The video was reportedly taken down after the song’s label and publisher objected to its use.
ABBA released their final studio album Voyage in November 2021. A documentary named ABBA: AGAINST THE ODDS directed by James Rogan came out in May, 2024. This documentary gave a glimpse behind the making of hits like The Winner Takes It All.
