The estate of Isaac Hayes obtained an injunction to force Donald Trump’s campaign team to stop using the slogan “Hold On, I’m Coming” at its events.
Federal Judge Thomas Thrash Jr. announced the ruling at a hearing on Tuesday, September 3, saying, “I order Trump and his campaign not to use the song without an appropriate license” (via CNN). However, Thrash denied the Hayes estate’s request to force the Trump campaign to remove any old videos that might contain “Hold On, I’m Coming.”
Ronald Coleman, a lawyer for the Trump campaign, said Rolling Stone in an email: “The campaign had already agreed to cease further use. We are very grateful that the court recognized the First Amendment issues at stake and did not order the removal of existing videos.”
An attorney for Hayes’ estate did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though Hayes’ son, Isaac Hayes III, spoke to reporters outside the Atlanta courtroom after today’s decision. “We are very grateful and happy with the decision,” Hayes III said. “Donald Trump has been banned from ever playing Isaac Hayes’ music again. I couldn’t ask for a better decision. I want this to serve as an opportunity for other artists to come forward who do not want their music used by Donald Trump or other political figures.”
At the same press conference, James Walker, the attorney for the Hayes estate, noted that today’s ruling was only preliminary and the case is still scheduled to go to trial. He said he believes the Trump campaign will ultimately be forced to remove all videos featuring “Hold On, I’m Coming” after going to court and proving that the campaign did not have a proper license to use the song.
Trump has used “Hold On, I’m Coming” — written by Hayes and David Porter and popularized by Sam & Dave — at his rallies for years. Although Sam & Dave’s Sam Moore even performed at Trump’s inauguration in 2017, Hayes’ estate has long protested Trump’s use of the song. They claimed the song’s publishers, Universal Music Group and Warner Chappell Music, tried to send a cease-and-desist letter to the Trump campaign as early as 2020. The estate then sent its own last month before filing its $3 million lawsuit, claiming Trump has played “Hold On, I’m Coming” over 100 times at his rallies without permission since 2022.
Many of the artists who have objected to Trump’s use of their music have learned that it can be difficult to actually stop a political candidate from using their music at rallies. Campaign teams obtain general political use licenses from publishers and rights management companies, and artists must ask their publishers to remove their material from those general licenses if they object to a particular candidate’s use of a song.
In court filings, Hayes’ estate confirmed that “Hold On, I’m Coming” was covered by such a license the Trump campaign obtained. They said the campaign was free from Nov. 30, 2022, to June 5, 2024, but on June 5, rights management firm BMI sent the Trump campaign a letter saying “Hold On, I’m Coming” had been removed at Dave Porter’s request. Still, Hayes’ estate — which says it owns the majority of the copyright to the song — said Trump will continue to use the song at future events.
