insiderblmIndie band Friendly Fires have criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson after he walked out to one of their tracks ahead of his keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference.
Mr Johnson made his way to the stage in Manchester on Wednesday backed by the sound of their song Blue Cassette.
The band tweeted afterwards to say they had not given their permission.
The Conservative Party has not yet commented on the band’s statement.
Posting on their Instagram story and Twitter account, the band said: “We do not endorse the Conservative party’s use of our track Blue Cassette.
“Our permission was not sought, and we have asked our management to make sure it isn’t used again.”
What are the rules on politicians’ music choices?
Friendly Fires are certainly not the first band to object to a politician co-opting their music.
During Donald Trump’s 2020 election campaign, artists like The Rolling Stones, Phil Collins and the estates of Tom Petty and Prince all protested when their songs were played at his rallies. Neil Young even filed a legal case to stop the campaign using his track Rocking In The Free World.
Legally, however, US politicians don’t always need direct permission from artists. The campaigns can buy licensing packages from music rights organisations like BMI and ASCAP, that give them legal access to millions of songs. Some, including The Rolling Stones, have opted out of those deals – but many artists are taken by surprise when their music becomes a politician’s theme song, and resort to public protest to distance themselves from policies or personalities they disapprove of.
In the UK, the situation is clearer. PPL – the body that licences the use of recorded music – requires political events like party conferences to “obtain permission from the relevant rights holder” before using a song.
In the case of Friendly Fires, it would seem the Conservatives failed to make that arrangement.
With the majority of musicians leaning towards the left and liberal side of politics, the Labour Party has an easier time attracting musicians to their cause.
Even so, Keir Starmer had an especially easy task arranging his walk-on music at last week’s Labour Party Conference. He chose the dance anthem Right Here, Right Now, which was composed by a childhood friend, with whom he’d shared violin lessons: Fatboy Slim.
As well as Friendly Fires, the Electric Light Orchestra’s Mr Blue Sky was also played before the PM’s speech, in which he promised to “get on with the job” of uniting and levelling up the UK.
In their response online, the St Albans band, best known for their 2008 indie floor-fillers Jump in the Pool and Paris, also shared a screenshot of a news report stating that Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg had called food banks “rather uplifting”.
“If Boris Johnson needed something uplifting to walk on to, perhaps he should have used the sound of a busy food bank,” they added.
PRS For Music, which manages rights for musical works on behalf of its members, said venues are not licensed for the use of music which would closely connect works with a political announcement, adding that permission for use must be sought directly from all the relevant rights holders.
