Several factions of the United States government have been playing fast and loose with the copyright laws and using music during rallies, creating videos, and commercial ads without permission.
The result has been a number of “cease and desist” letters from the artists who object to the use of their music.
One such artist is the band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club who found their traditional folk song “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”.
The Department of Homeland Security used a clip of the music in one of their social media recruitment videos.
Not surprisingly, the band sent a somewhat angry cease-and-desist letter that included, “it’s obvious that you don’t respect Copyright Law and Artist Rights any more than you respect Habeas Corpus and Due Process rights, not to mention the separation of Church and State per the US Constitution. For the record, we hereby order @dhsgov to cease and desist the use of our recording and demand that you immediately pull down your video.“
There was also a P.S. that said,“Oh, and go f… yourselves.”
Singer and guitarist Robert Levon Been added: “It’s illegal. They are breaking the law constantly and using a lot of different artists’ property that shouldn’t be exploited. We were just acknowledging that it was crossing the line and it’s wrong.”
The San Francisco band reported that the response from Homeland Security, “sounded like an ex-girlfriend.” Adding, “it didn’t sound like a legal [reply] or anything official. It was this really weird message like, ‘Don’t bother us with your complaints. You got attention and media from just being associated with us, and so you should be grateful.’”
The band were ready to respond with “we’ll see you in court then” but social media platforms had already removed the ad with the song. Band members noted that social media, “acted more professionally than the actual government itself, which is bizarre.”
BRMC’s Levon Been added, “what I wanted was for more bands and organisations to know that like if you actually get through to the final boss stage, it’s just a complete joke. It’s just all smoke and mirrors. I knew that in theory, but actually seeing it from the horse’s mouth, it was bonkers. It brings it down to size. It’s not as intimidating as what they want you to believe. That’s all I would like people to know. If bands get fucked with or anything that like this happens to and they feel too scared to say anything, you shouldn’t. Take them, take them to the mat all the way.”