The late, GREAT Freddie Mercury of Queen…
“An unauthorised use at the Republican Convention against our wishes,” the band tweeted Tuesday. Their publisher, Sony/ATV Music, also said it was unauthorized. Officials said they paid for the use.
Sony/ATV Music Publishing has never been asked by Mr. Trump or the Trump campaign for permission to use “We Are The Champions” by Queen. On behalf of the band, we are frustrated by the repeated unauthorized use of the song after a previous request to desist, which has obviously been ignored by Mr. Trump and his campaign.
Queen does not want its music associated with any mainstream or political debate in any country. Nor does Queen want “We Are The Champions” to be used as an endorsement of Mr. Trump and the political views of the Republican Party. We trust, hope and expect that Mr. Trump and his campaign will respect these wishes moving forward.
By James Poniewozik
[Editor’s note: This should be a concern for all musicians. The point of music copyright laws is to protect the writer(s) and performer(s) of a song. Unauthorized use of a song violates those rules and is a slap in the face to musicians everywhere.]