A British band has hit out at the Conservatives for using one of its songs during Boris Johnson’s keynote speech at the party conference.
The prime minister entered the conference hall in Manchester on Wednesday to Friendly Fires’ 2011 tune Blue Cassette.
But the indie rock group from St Albans quickly let the world know they were not happy about being associated with the Tories, or Mr Johnson, in a strongly worded statement where they called the party a “bunch of corrupt w*****s”.
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Boris Johnson’s conference speech – highlights
They 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.
“If we’d have intended them to use it, we’d have named the track ‘Blue Bunch Of Corrupt W*****s’.”
Finally, they added a screenshot of a story saying Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed food banks were “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 said.
Within a couple of hours, the band’s tweet with the statement in had gone viral.
Venues do not have to get specific permission from individual artists to play their music as most are covered by obtaining a music licence.
An industry body collects the music licence fees, determined by venue size and usage type, and distributes them to the artists.
It is illegal to use copyrighted music at an event without the appropriate permissions and can incur a fine.
Dozens of well-known musicians have called out former US President Donald Trump for using their songs during his rallies.
Adele, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Sir Elton John, Gun N’ Roses, Pharrell Williams, The Rolling Stones and Village People are among the musicians who have publicly voiced their anger about him using their music.
Some have taken legal action.
