Abba Demands Trump Campaign Halt Use of Their Music at Rallies

Abba have demanded that Donald Trump stop using their music after the former US president played several of their songs and used footage of the group at a campaign rally.

The Republican presidential candidate played hits including Money, Money, Money, The Winner Takes It All, and Dancing Queen at his event in St Cloud, Minnesota. The US state boasts the highest Swedish population, according to the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.

The campaign also showed film footage of Abba members on a big video screen at the hockey stadium alongside messages urging supporters to donate.

Universal Music, the Swedish group’s record company, said they had not been asked for permission to use Abba’s music or videos by the Trump campaign. They also demanded that footage from the event be “immediately taken down and removed”.

A spokesperson expressed the band’s stance: “Together with the members of Abba, we have discovered that videos have been released where Abba’s music/videos have been used at Trump events, and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately taken down and removed.”

They added, “Universal Music Publishing AB and Polar Music International AB have not received any request, so no permission or license has been given to Trump.”

One of the group’s members, Björn Ulvaeus, reportedly told the Swedish newswire TT by text message: “Our record company Universal makes sure it is taken down.”

Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Ulvaeus are the latest to take issue with their music being used by the Trump campaign.

Previously, Céline Dion spoke out against the use of My Heart Will Go On at a campaign rally in Montana, while Beyoncé blocked Trump from using her song Freedom, the main song for his Democrat rival Kamala Harris’s campaign, after it featured in a Trump campaign video.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: The Guardian, Svenska Dagbladet