Record-breaking star joins long list of musicians – including Neil Young, REM and Aerosmith – who have asked presidential hopeful to leave their songs alone

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Donald Trump may be a fan of Adele, but the pop star is no fan of the Republican presidential frontrunner.

The outspoken candidate, who is facing his first electoral test in the Iowa caucus, has been using Adele’s hits Rolling in the Deep and Skyfall, the singer’s James Bond theme, at his political rallies.

Trump’s appropriation of Adele’s music has perplexed some of her fans. One fan tweeted she was “offended on Adele’s behalf”, while another asked: “Does Adele know that Donald Trump plays her songs at his rallies? I have a feeling she would not be pleased.”

The property tycoon, who is known to millions of Americans through the US version of The Apprentice, annoyed many Adele fans when he jumped the queue at a concert she gave at the Radio City Music Hall in November.

Matt Bellassai (@MattBellassai) I can't believe Donald Trump got to walk right into the Adele concert and I'm still waiting in line @Adele fix it

Now the singer has become the latest pop star to tell Trump to stop pinching her tunes for his campaign.

“Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning,” her spokesman said.

That should come as no surprise to the Trump campaign. In 2011, Adele called David Cameron “a wally”, describing herself as a “Labour girl through and through”.

Neil Young and the Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler have also told Trump to stop using their music. Attorneys for Tyler sent a cease and desist letter to Trump’s campaign committee, which said Trump did “not have our client’s permission to use Dream On” or any of Tyler’s other songs and that it “gives the false impression that he is connected with, or endorses, Mr Trump’s presidential bid”.

REM’s Michael Stipe used more forthright language: “Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you – you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign,” he said in a statement after Trump used It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine) at a rally.

But Steve Gordon, an entertainment lawyer and author of The Future of the Music Business, told the Guardian that in the US artists cannot do much to stop candidates playing their music.

Essentially, to play a recording of a song a political event the promoter simply gets a license from a licensing agent (either ASCAP, BMI or SESAC).

Because of US federal government laws, the licensing agent cannot deny a license to anyone who applies.

There are three things artists regularly try to sue for when their songs appear somewhere they don’t want, said Gordon: trademark infringement, right of publicity and unfair trade practises.

“If I, as a reasonable person, at a Trump or [Mike] Huckabee rally where Adele was played thought that Adele was endorsing the campaign she should have a cause of action,” said Gordon.

But Gordon added that simply playing a recording of a song did not count as a sufficient endorsement.

Plus, Adele declaring that she “has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning” means that it’s even clearer to voters that she did not support him.

“If she’s coming out publicly against using her music, then she’s not endorsing him so no one would think she was. If I was his lawyer, he’s got a strong case, and she’s got a BS claim. If they tried to do anything legally … at the end of the day, she’d lose,” said Gordon.

Was there anything artists could do to make sure someone with completely different political views to them stays away from their music?

“Not really,” said Gordon.