Artist News

Donald Trump will stop playing Aerosmith track, has something better anyway

By | Published on Thursday 15 October 2015

Steven Tyler

Donald Trump has graciously agreed to stop using Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On’ at his political rallies, saying that he has a “better” track to replace it with anyway.

As previously reported, Tyler issued a cease and desist against Trump earlier this week. Unlike most artists who complain about politicians using their music – even though the political types usually have the correct public performance licenses in place from local collecting societies – the Aerosmith frontman and his lawyer Dina LaPolt felt they had found legal reasons to block Trump playing the song.

Those grounds included false endorsement under America’s Lanham Act and the infringement of Tyler’s publicity and privacy rights. It would have been a very interesting test case, had it gone to court; and one that would have been eagerly watched by many musicians who would like to stop their music being aligned with political causes against their will. And while that won’t now happen, Tyler’s cease and desist could still prove to be a useful new tactic for music types, as Trump has complied and agreed to stop using the Aerosmith song.

“Even though I have the legal right to use Steven Tyler’s song, he asked me not to”, tweeted Trump yesterday. “Have better one to take its place!”

That replacement is apparently ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ by Twisted Sister, which is apparently fine. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, who himself once hit out at a politician using one of his songs back in 2012, recently told Newsweek of Trump using his track: “He asked me and he’s a friend”. Though that doesn’t mean he is outright endorsing the presidential wannabe. “I said [to him], ‘Look, we’re friends, and I really like you, but we don’t see eye-to-eye on everything’. We do agree on a number of things, but not everything!”

However, Trump suggested that there might be another reason for Snyder to be happy to have his music used in the campaign: “Steven Tyler got more publicity on his song request than he’s gotten in ten years. Good for him!”

Yeah, that’s more publicity for Tyler than when he was an ‘American Idol’ judge, or that time everyone was speculating that bandmate Joe Perry deliberately pushed him off a stage.



READ MORE ABOUT: | | | |