Donald Trump is no longer allowed to use Isaac Hayes’ music at his rallies

A US judge has ordered Donald Trump’s campaign team to stop using the song “Hold On, I’m Coming” at its rallies. This was his response to a lawsuit filed by the family of the song’s co-author, Isaac Hayes.

The Republican presidential candidate regularly plays the song before and after his speeches, including at the Republican National Convention in July.

However, Hayes’ family has sued Trump’s campaign, saying it has repeatedly ignored requests to stop using the song, which was made famous by soul duo Sam and Dave in 1966.

The interim ruling by Judge Thomas Thrash in the US state of Georgia means that the campaign is prohibited from broadcasting the song again until the lawsuit is settled.

However, the judge did not grant a request to order Trump’s campaign team to remove recordings of past events at which the song was used.

Hayes’ son, Isaac Hayes III, welcomed the ruling and said his father, who died in 2008, did not support the former president.

“We have to make it clear that we want to distance ourselves from someone of Donald Trump’s character,” he said outside the Richard B. Russell federal court in Atlanta, Georgia.

“This is not a political question, it is a question of character.”

Ronald Coleman, a lawyer for Mr Trump, said the campaign had already agreed to stop further use of “Hold On, I’m Coming” (since filing the lawsuit last month, Mr Trump has resumed using the Village People’s YMCA).

“We are very grateful that the court recognized existing First Amendment rights and did not order the removal of existing videos,” Coleman added.

He also suggested settling the case before trial.

“Before we left the courtroom, we spoke with the Hayes attorneys and with Mr. Hayes III to try to work out a solution. We want this to be as collaborative a process as possible going forward,” he told reporters.

Hayes composed the song in 1966 with Dave Porter while working as a staff writer at Stax Records. He later went on to win Grammy and Oscars himself with hits such as Shaft and Walk On By.

The star’s estate claims that Trump’s campaign team used the song on 134 different occasions after initially asking him to refrain from doing so.

They are demanding royalties of $3 million (£2.4 million) for repeated use of the song between 2022 and 2024.

Mr Trump’s lawyers argued that the Hayes estate was not the licensee of the song and that he had permission to use it. Lawyers for the Hayes family called that statement “erroneous.”

Dozens of other artists have objected to the use of their songs at Republican rallies in the run-up to the US presidential election.

Abba, the Foo Fighters, White Stripes singer Jack White, Celine Dion and Johnny Marr have all raised objections in the last month alone.

However, musicians have only limited success in preventing politicians from using their music, and court cases often drag on for years.

The case of Guyanese-British singer Eddy Grant over Mr Trump’s use of his song “Electric Avenue” is scheduled to be heard in a Manhattan court this Friday, four years after the star first filed a complaint.

The star sued Mr Trump over a 2020 campaign video that featured a 40-second clip of his song.

The video was viewed 13.7 million times before it was removed from Twitter, which Grant said was an unauthorized use for which Trump owes him $300,000 (£229,000) in damages.

As in the Hayes case, Trump’s lawyers argue that the singer does not own the copyright to his own song.