Twitter took down a video President Trump tweeted last month that featured Eddy Grant’s song “Electric Avenue” after receiving a copyright complaint, a Twitter spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap on Tuesday.
The takedown comes on the same day that Grant sued the Trump campaign for unauthorized use of his song, which was used as the soundtrack for a clip of a train moving quickly (representing the Trump campaign) while a manually operated vehicle (representing the Biden campaign) lags behind.
According to the copyright complaint, which was logged on the Lumen database, the DMCA takedown was sent to Twitter on Aug. 13 from Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
Representatives for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Last week, the estate of the late songwriter Leonard Cohen threatened legal action against the RNC for playing Cohen’s “Hallelujah” twice on the final day of the convention, even after the estate “specifically declined the RNC’s use request.” And in July, almost 60 artists — including Fall Out Boy, Mick Jagger, Lorde, Lionel Richie and Courtney Love — signed an open letter demanding that political campaigns and committees get consent from artists before using their music at campaign events.
“Being dragged unwillingly into politics in this way can compromise an artist’s personal values while disappointing and alienating fans — with great moral and economic cost. For artists that do choose to engage politically in campaigns or other contexts, this kind of unauthorized public use confuses their message and undermines their effectiveness,” the letter said. “Like all other citizens, artists have the fundamental right to control their work and make free choices regarding their political expression and participation. Using their work for political purposes without their consent fundamentally breaches those rights – an invasion of the most hallowed, even sacred personal interests.”
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