Donald Trump Isaac Hayes’ family wants three million

Donald Trump’s (78) campaign team has apparently used a song by soul musician Isaac Hayes (1942-2008) countless times to promote the former US president. The family of the deceased singer therefore wants to sue Trump and his team in a total of 134 cases of copyright infringement, as announced on social media. According to the lawsuit, the song “Hold On (I’m Coming)”, co-written by Hays, was used without permission at campaign events between 2022 and 2024.

A letter dated August 11, which was also published there, states that the rights to the song are owned by the family and Isaac Hayes Enterprises. They were informed that Trump or the election campaign officials had allowed the song to be played publicly without the authorization of the rights holders – despite repeated requests not to do so.

What Trump and his team should do by August 16

Trump and his team are now being asked to stop using the song by August 16, to take all videos containing the song offline, to publicly announce that they do not have the rights to use it, and to transfer at least three million US dollars. This is a reduced fee. In a lawsuit, the amount would therefore increase tenfold. There is talk that 150,000 US dollars could be due for each use case. If Trump’s side does not respond accordingly, they will take all necessary legal steps.

There have been similar cases involving disgruntled artists in the past – including Neil Young (78) and the Rolling Stones. Recently, Céline Dion’s (56) social media team also reported on the unauthorized use of her hit “My Heart Will Go On” on Instagram. “Today, Céline Dion’s management team and her record label Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc. became aware of the unauthorized use of the video, recording, musical performance and likeness of Céline Dion singing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ at a Donald Trump and JD Vance campaign event in Montana.” This was “in no way authorized.” The singer does not support this type of use.