ABBA Demand That Donald Trump Stop Playing Their Music At Rallies
Reunited Swedish pop greats ABBA have joined the growing lists of artists who don’t want their music played at Donald Trump rallies. In the past few weeks, Beyoncé and Foo Fighters objected to the Trump campaign’s use of their songs. Now, ABBA have ordered the Trump campaign to stop playing their songs and that it take down videos featuring their music.
The Guardian reports that a recent Trump campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota featured three ABBA tracks: “Money, Money, Money,” “The Winner Takes It All,” and “Dancing Queen.” ABBA’s members were also shown onscreen in videos that urged rally attendees to donate. The newspaper helpfully notes that Minnesota is “the US state with the highest Swedish population”; are people really trying to play identity politics with ABBA songs?
In response, Universal Music Group, ABBA’s label, claims that the Trump campaign did not have permission to use those songs: “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, and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately taken down and removed.” ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus reportedly responded via text to questions from the Swedish news service TT: “Our record company Universal makes sure it is taken down.”