Rolling Stones ask Trump to stop playing their songs

The Rolling Stones have asked presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to stop playing their songs at his campaign events.

In a statement Wednesday, the rock band said they have not given permission to the Trump campaign to use their songs and "have requested that they cease all use immediately."

A Trump campaign spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment or say whether they had a licence to play their songs.

Trump, an avid music fan, has featured Rolling Stones songs at his rallies for months as part of a diverse soundtrack that includes Elton John, opera and classic rock songs. The Rolling Stones' 1969 classic You Can't Always Get What You Want was a popular song for his events, and during an event on Tuesday night, the campaign played Start Me Up.

Artists say stop

Adele and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler both asked the candidate to stop using their recorded songs to fire up crowds.

Neil Young objected when the real estate mogul used Rockin' in the Free World during his campaign kickoff announcement last year.

R.E.M. also asked Trump to stop using their song It's the End of the World. In those cases, the Trump campaign stopped using the songs. 

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Political campaigns don't need artists' permission to play their songs at rallies as long as the political organization or the venue has gotten what's known as a blanket licence from the performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI for all the music in the licencing group's repertoire.

But artists do have some recourse. BMI, for example, has said it has a provision in its licence agreement that allows BMI songwriters or publishers to object to the use of their songs and they have the ability to exclude those songs from the blanket licence.