Prince estate shuts down use of his music by Trump team at rallies

The president's promoters thought they could use the sounds of His Royal Badness to rally their troops, but his estate wasn't having it

Kia Morgan-Smith

Oct 12, 2018

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Members of Prince’s estate have a real problem with President Trump’s staff playing the late singer’s songs at his rallies, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.

Video footage surfaced showing attendees of one of Trump’s infamous on-the-road rallies in Mississippi waving their hands in the air and swaying and singing along to his 1984 signature hit “Purple Rain.” Soon after, the estate took to Twitter to issue a statement in opposition asking that “they cease all use immediately.”

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“The Prince Estate has never given permission to President Trump or The White House to use Prince’s songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately.”

— Omarr Baker (@PRNFamily) October 12, 2018

The message was sent by Jeremiah Freed, aka Dr. Funkenberry, on behalf the estate of the music icon who died in 2016.

Footage captured on FOX News and CNN showed the music being played which sparked a reaction from flustered Prince fans. Ardent fan and tech company Glitch founder, Anil Dash, immediately reacted with a tweet of his own.

Alright, Prince estate: nobody has more experience shutting down misuses of an artist’s work than you do. You got this. https://t.co/7PNFrhNH0F

— Anil Dash (@anildash) October 3, 2018

During his life, Prince was very guarded about the unauthorized use of his music and rarely allowed it to be played without his permission. He was also notoriously apolitical, choosing to avoid taking specific stands on political issues, so having “Purple Rain” played at a Trump rally would likely be something he would object to.

Meanwhile, in August the estate and Sony Music has already released 23 previously unavailable albums from the from the late singer’s extensive musical catalogue. Also, Tidal announced a new Prince album is set to be released next year, according to Variety.