Donald Trump is guilty of many crimes (starting with at least 34 felonies, to be exact), and one of them is questionable taste in music. We say “questionable,” not “bad,” because while the song choices at his campaign rallies are often fine in themselves, the former president has the nasty habit of playing them without getting permission from the relevant copyright holders. The latest example: He’s just been hit with a cease-and-desist letter from the estate of Isaac Hayes, insisting that Trump stop playing “Hold On, I’m Coming” immediately — and demanding $3 million to make up for all the times he’s played it so far.
The Atlanta-based attorney James Walker sent the strongly-worded Aug. 11 letter, slamming Trump and his campaign for playing the Stax Records classic “without authorization from the copyright holder, despite being asked repeatedly not to engage in such illegal use by our client.” The complaint includes an appendix with a “non-exhaustive list” of “over one hundred times” that Trump has played “Hold On, I’m Coming” at his rallies since 2022, and notes: “As we prepared this letter, there was an additional use in Montana just two nights ago, even with your office apparently aware that you had no permission.” (Read a Rolling Stone report from that Montana rally, which also featured prominent use of the Cats song “Memory,” here.)
The musician’s son Isaac Hayes III decried the Trump campaign on X, writing: “Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of Women and racist rhetoric. We will now deal with this very swiftly.”
Hayes, who died in 2008, wrote “Hold On, I’m Coming” with frequent writing partner David Porter. It was recorded by Stax duo Sam & Dave, who took it to the top of Billboard‘s R&B charts in 1966 and made it one of the most beloved hits in the history of soul music. Politicians have tried to use the song before and gotten in hot water — there was even a brief tiff in 2008 between the duo’s Sam Moore and then-candidate Barack Obama over its use. (They worked it out later.) Hayes and his estate have famously challenged other politicians for using songs he wrote, too. It’s pretty clear that they really don’t want candidates using his music for political purposes, but Trump keeps doing it anyway. That’s kind of his thing.
Trump has made unauthorized use of popular music one of the hallmarks of his political career. Just last week, Celine Dion asked him to stop playing “My Heart Will Go On.” He’s gotten similar complaints in the past for using songs by Tom Petty, Rihanna, the Rolling Stones, the Village People, John Fogerty, Aerosmith, Linkin Park, Journey, and others. In music copyright, as well as many other arenas, he seems to think he’s above the law.
The Hayes estate’s letter goes on to explain that when they order Trump to pony up $3 million for all those unauthorized plays, it’s actually “a very discounted fee for the normal license fee associated with this many multiple uses. The normal fee for these infringements will be 10 times as much if we litigate, starting at $150,000 per use.”
The estate is demanding a response from Trump by Aug. 16, five days after the date on the letter. After that, they say, they’re taking this to trial.
