“Hold On” You Can’t Use That Music in Your Presidential Campaign

The estate of the late singer and songwriter Isaac Hayes sued former President Donald Trump for using one of his songs at campaign events and rallies. Scott Hervey and Tara Sattler discuss this case in this installment of The Briefing.

Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel.

Show Notes:

Scott:
In August of this year, the estate of legendary singer and songwriter Isaac Hayes sued former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump and his campaign for using the song ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ at political events and rallies. In mid-September, the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia partially granted Hayes’ estate’s motion for a preliminary injunction. This case raises some interesting issues about the public performance of music, how it’s licensed, and the controls musicians have over its use.

I’m Scott Hervey from Weintraub Tobin, and we’re joined today by Tara Sattler as we talk about the recent ruling in Isaac Hayes enterprises versus Donald Trump enterprise on today’s episode of The Briefing.

Tara, it’s good to have you back.

Tara:
Thanks for having me. I’m Glad to be back.

Scott:
Let’s jump into the case. I must say, combining politics and copyright law might be the only way to make C-Span seem more exciting in comparison. Can you give me a brief breakdown of the facts.

Tara:
Sure. This case goes back to Trump’s use of the song, Hold on, I’m Coming, since 2020. Apparently, he played the song at political rallies and events more than a hundred times since then. Hayes Enterprises, which owns all of Isaac Hayes’ publishing and music rights, sent the Trump campaign a letter back in 2020, demanding that it stop using the song. Apparently, that never happened. The Trump campaign continued to use the song as part of the campaign, and Hayes Enterprises eventually filed suit in August of 2024 and moved for a preliminary injunction.

Scott:
So one interesting twist in the case is that the Trump campaign did initially have permission to use the song. The campaign had a public performance license through BMI, which generally allows for the use of a wide range of music in the public performance of that music. Now, that brings up an important point about music licensing in public performance. Public performance rights are a crucial aspect of music copyright. When a song is played in public, such as in a restaurant or a bar, and in this case at a political rally, that use requires a license. Those licenses are obtained in the US from performance rights organizations or PROs, and those are organizations like BMI, ASCAP, and CSAC, and they manage those rights, the performance rights for songwriters and for publishers. Pros offer blanket license that cover a large catalog of songs. Now, blanket license allows the licensee to use any song in the PROs catalog. However, specific songs can be excluded even after the license has been granted.

Tara:
Right. Paragraph 2A of the BMI Music License for Political Entities states that one or more works or catalogs of works by one or more BMI songwriters may be excluded from this license if notice is received by BMI that such BMI songwriters object to the use of their copyrighted works for the intended uses by the licensee.

Scott:
On June 6, 2024, Hayes Enterprise exercised this right and excluded the song from the license that was granted by BMI to the Trump campaign. However, the campaign continued to use the song after that date, which the court viewed as likely copyright infringement. The court granted a partial preliminary injun