Neil Young sues Trump committee for $10 million over campaign use of song

Filing in Virginia

Neil Young filed a copyright lawsuit on Monday, 26 October, in federal court in Virginia against the Trump 47 Committee, a fundraising committee set up jointly with the Republican National Committee. The complaint says the committee played his 1989 song 'Rockin' in the Free World' at campaign events without his permission. One of the cited performances came at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on 12 October, shortly before Donald Trump took the stage. Young is asking for $10 million in damages and a court order barring further public performance of the song for political purposes. The filing also says the recording was played many times at other Republican rallies meant to drive votes in the upcoming midterm elections, but it does not name them.

What the complaint argues

The complaint presents the song as a searing piece that sets empty political promises against the hardship faced by poor, homeless and forgotten people. Its lyrics, according to the filing, paint street scenes of addiction and abandonment, while the repeated chorus celebrates a freedom the filing says not everyone shares. Young's filing makes the point in a single line.

“The song is the opposite of everything that Donald J Trump stands for.”

The complaint also raises the possibility that the committee's use of the song could suggest Young supports Trump. Young has also called Trump the worst president in the history of the United States. He is 80 years old, and in 2025 he voiced fear that Trump could bar his re-entry to the country after a European tour, since he holds dual US and Canadian citizenship.

The 2020 settlement

Young first sued in 2020 over the same song, targeting Donald J. Trump for President Inc, another corporation formed by the president. According to the complaint, that company did not contest the claim and settled soon after being served, promising never to use the song again without a license and permission from Young. The 2020 case also involved 'Devil's Sidewalk', which was played at a Trump rally, and the settlement covered both songs. Young's position is that the committee has kept playing the track despite that promise. The song was already used in 2015 during Trump's first presidential campaign, which drew a protest from Young. The new complaint does not specify any further terms of the earlier settlement.

Other artists

Young is one of several musicians to challenge the unlicensed use of their songs at Trump events. In 2020 the Rolling Stones, the family of Tom Petty, Phil Collins and Linkin Park sent cease-and-desist declarations over their music. In 2024 ABBA demanded the immediate takedown of clips from a Trump rally in St Cloud, Minnesota, where several of its hits were played. The White Stripes filed a federal lawsuit in 2024 over the use of 'Seven Nation Army' in a campaign ad, and later dropped it. In April 2026 Alphaville demanded the removal of an AI video built on its hit 'Forever Young' and barred Trump and the Republican Party from any further use of its music. Copyright complaints of this kind often lead to ads or rally footage being taken down.

Response

At the time of the reporting, the White House, the Trump 47 Committee and the Republican National Committee had not responded to requests for comment. The allegations come from the complaint filed on 26 October, and no court has ruled on them. Young is seeking the damages and the injunction described in the filing, and the case now sits before the federal court in Virginia.