And Finally Artist News

Adele not endorsing Donald Trump, if you were wondering

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 2 February 2016

If you’re compiling a list of artists Donald Trump has annoyed during his stint as a contender to be a contender for the US Presidency, well that’s a foolish thing to do. An easier list to compile would be the artists that Trump hasn’t annoyed during his stint as a contender to be a contender for the US Presidency. And if you’re doing that, knock Adele off your list.

Trump’s use of Adele’s music at his rallies is not new – he was using her Bond theme ‘Skyfall’ last year – but recently he started using ‘Rolling In The Deep’ as his entry music, emphasising the line “we could have it all”, which has brought new negative attention from her fans.

Resulting in a spokesperson for the singer saying yesterday: “Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning”. Not that her giving permission really matters. As ever, so long as Trump pays the relevant licence fee to the relevant US performing rights society – BMI in Adele’s case – then he’s totally within his rights to use her songs at any event he stages.

Though, last year Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler managed to convince Trump to stop using the band’s song ‘Dream On’ after issuing a cease and desist accusing the Presidential hopeful of false endorsement under America’s Lanham Act and the infringement of Tyler’s publicity and privacy rights. Trump stopped using the record, meaning those arguments were never tested in court. Whether Adele will go down this route remains to be seen. Probably not.

Meanwhile, Trump might argue that Adele caused him to lose the Iowa Republican caucus last night. Well, he’s going to have to blame someone.