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ABBA tell Trump to stop using their music in campaign

August 29, 2024

The Swedish pop group becomes the latest in a long line of artists to ask Donald Trump not to use their music at campaign events, including the Rolling Stones, R.E.M., Celine Dion and Tom Petty.

https://p.dw.com/p/4k4Vl
Members of ABBA, from left, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London, Thursday May 26, 2022.
The Swedish pop quartet are the latest in quite a long line of artists to ask Trump to avoid their back catalogsImage: Alberto Pezzali/AP Photo/picture alliance

Swedish pop group ABBA has joined a number of artists asking US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to stop using their music at his election campaign events.

ABBA's record label, Universal Music, said in a statement that the band members also ask that Trump take down recent online videos of events where he had done so.  

What did ABBA say?

"Together with the members of ABBA, we have discovered that videos have been released where ABBA's music has been used at Trump events, and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately removed and taken down," Universal Music said in a statement. 

It said no permission or license for the songs' usage had been granted. 

Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet had filed a correspondent's report from a July 27 event in Minnesota, where ABBA hits including "The Winner Takes It All," "Money, Money, Money" and "Dancing Queen" were played, accompanied by videos.

Minnesota is well known for its large community with Swedish roots, who make up an estimated 7% of the swing state's population, the highest proportion in any US state.

Dwindling playlist for campaign rally DJ

ABBA, a label rooted in the four band members' first names — Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid — is surely Sweden's best known modern cultural export. It was among the leading lights of the disco and pop scene until the band broke up in 1982. 

Reuters news agency reported that the band members declined to comment further, but that their spokesman said they fully supported their record label's statement.

A series of musicians have taken similar steps, asking the Trump campaign not to use their music, across all three of the last US presidential campaigns. 

These include, but are by no means limited to, ABBA, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Earth, Wind and Fire, the Foo Fighters, Guns'N'Roses, Neil Young, Ozzy Osbourne, R.E.M., Sinead O'Connor, Rihanna, the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty (or rather his surviving relatives), the Village People and The White Stripes.

msh/nm (AFP, Reuters)