The Cohen and Manafort cases may not represent the extent of President Donald Trump’s legal troubles. Singer Steven Tyler of the band Aerosmith has issued a cease and desist letter to the White House demanding that Trump stop playing Tyler’s songs at his rallies.
Tuesday night, at a rally in West Virginia, the Trump team played the Aerosmith song, “Livin’ on the Edge,” as people filed into their seats. Even though the song was likely hard to hear over the noise of the crowd, Tyler’s attorney said the song was recognizable enough to imply that Tyler and his band approved of its use.
And Tyler isn’t happy about it, according to Variety.
The letter, sent Wednesday, cites the Lanham Act, which prohibits uses of intellectual property that carry with them “any false designation or misleading description or representation of fact … likely to cause confusion … as to the affiliation, connection, or association of such person with another person.”
In other words, Tyler and his band-mates are concerned that people who hear an Aerosmith song at a Trump rally might mistakenly believe the band supports the Trump agenda.
This isn’t the first time a band has objected to a campaign using a song, but with President Trump the situation is unique since he can often afford to pay “public performance fees” that allow him to play songs at his rallies without the relevant band’s specific permission.
In a previous case with Aerosmith’s song, “Dream On,” performing rights organization BMI actually pulled public performance rights so that Trump wouldn’t be able to purchase the song to play at his rallies after the band complained.