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And Finally Artist News Legal
Phil Collins adds another letter to Donald Trump’s cease-and-desist pile
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 16 October 2020
So, Phil Collins has sent Donald Trump a cease-and-desist letter, complaining about the use of his song ‘In The Air Tonight’ at one of the US President’s political rallies.
“Oh for fuck’s sake”, you’re probably thinking to yourself. “Another story about a musician sending Donald Trump a cease-and-desist?” Yes, my friends, it is another story about a musician sending Donald Trump a cease-and-desist.
The good news is that, with less than three weeks to go before the presidential election, this could be the last one we ever write. The bad news is that, with less than three weeks to go before the presidential election, this could be a mere blip in a sea of such reports to come over the next four years.
Trump played ‘In The Air Tonight’ at a rally in Iowa on Wednesday night. Although, apparently, the intention wasn’t to warn the assembled maskless audience that Trump’s COVID-19 was still contagious.
Either way, Collins wasn’t happy. A rep for the musician told Consequence Of Sound: “Yes we are well aware of the Trump campaign’s use of this song and we have already issued a ‘cease-and-desist’ letter via our lawyers who continue to monitor the situation”.
It is customary to note at this point that often there is little an artist can do to stop their music being played at Trump’s rallies. Although a number of musicians have recently withdrawn their music from the political event blanket licences issued by the US collecting societies to things like the Trump campaign, which possibly makes the President liable for copyright infringement if he continues playing their songs. Though that is yet to be actually tested beyond some legal threats.
Many artists simply rely on impotent pleading instead, hoping that if they complain enough in public the President might be embarrassed into not using their tracks. Though such pleading by Village People’s Victor Willis has been ignored so roundly by Trump and his team that last week we were subjected to watching the President dancing to ‘YMCA’ at the end of a rally in Pennsylvania.
Please make this stop, America. I can’t take it anymore.
