Neil Young Sues Trump Committee for $10 Million Over 'Rockin' in the Free World'

Neil Young sued a group associated with President Donald Trump in Virginia federal court on Monday, accusing the Trump 47 Committee of copyright infringement over the use of his song Rockin' in the Free World at a rally in Ohio this month.

Young said in the complaint that the song was played without a license before Trump took the stage at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on October 12, held in support of Republican midterm election candidates. He asked the court for $10 million in damages. The case is Young v. Trump 47 Committee Inc, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, case number 3:26-cv-01398.

What the complaint says

The complaint also asks the court for an order barring the committee from using Young's music going forward, according to Consequence. The attorney listed for Young is Robert Besser of the Law Offices of Robert Besser. No attorney was yet listed for the committee in the reports on the filing.

The filing describes the song itself at length. In short, the song is the opposite of everything Donald J. Trump stands for, the complaint says, in a passage quoted by Reuters. The complaint describes the lyrics as street level portraits, including a mother discarding her baby and addicts lost in despair, with a repeated chorus that delivers a sharp irony about freedom that is not shared by all.

Spokespeople for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint, Reuters reported. No hearing date has been set. After the committee is formally served, defendants generally have 21 days from service to answer a complaint or file a motion challenging it, under federal court rules.

A dispute that goes back years

This is not the first time Young has taken a Trump campaign to court over the same song. He sued Trump's 2020 reelection campaign over its use of Rockin' in the Free World and Devil's Sidewalk at campaign events. According to the new complaint, that case was resolved after the campaign promised not to use Rockin' in the Free World again without a license.

The dispute reaches back further still. Trump used the song when he launched his first presidential campaign at Trump Tower in June 2015. Young publicly objected at the time, and the campaign subsequently said it would stop using the song.

Rockin' in the Free World was released in 1989. The new lawsuit treats the Youngstown playing as a fresh breach, separate from the earlier cases, because the complaint says the song was used again this month after the promise recorded in the 2020 settlement. The $10 million figure is the damages amount Young is asking the court to award. No court has ruled on the new filing, and the use of the song without a license remains an allegation in the complaint at this stage.