Neil Young Sues Trump Fundraising Committee Over “Rockin’ in the Free World”
Neil Young has sued the joint fundraising committee for President Donald Trump, accusing it of using his 1989 hit “Rockin’ in the Free World” without permission. The copyright infringement lawsuit was filed in Virginia federal court and reported on Oct. 26, 2026. Young wants $10 million in damages and a court order to stop any further use of the song.
The defendant is Trump 47 Committee Inc. Billboard, which obtained the lawsuit, reports that the complaint centres on an Oct. 12 rally in Youngstown, Ohio. The suit alleges the song was played as Trump's walk-up music, the track used as a speaker takes the stage. That rally came weeks before the midterm elections.
Young says he never granted the committee a public performance license for the song, and that he never would. A public performance license is permission to play a recording in front of an audience, and it is usually required when a song is played at a live event. Without one, the rights holder can take legal action.
This is not the first time Young has taken Trump's political operation to court over this song. In August 2020, he sued the Trump campaign for copyright infringement over the alleged unlicensed use of his music. Reuters reported in December 2020 that Young had ended that case. The campaign agreed to stop using the song without a license and permission.
The new case is a fresh filing, and it asks a court to do what the 2020 settlement relied on a promise to achieve. Young is seeking an injunction, a court order that would bar further misuse of the track. Copyright disputes like this one often turn on whether a song was used with permission, so the details of the license will be central to the case.
