can an artist object to their song being played at a political rally?

Firm opposition to any political recovery. Calogero said Monday June 3 “scandalized” by the broadcast of one of his songs during a meeting of the National Rally on Sunday in the capital. The head of the RN list in the European elections, Jordan Bardella, spoke in front of 5,000 people at the Paris Dôme. This final gathering of the far-right party before the June 9 election concluded with the song 1987 of the star of French song.

“At no time did I give any authorization to broadcast my music there. I affirm that I would never have given it”, writes Calogero on his social networks. The singer objects “firmly” to what his music “be recovered by any party whatsoever”. “My songs are not made for the political framework, they belong to the public and only to the public”continues the artist who “reserves the right to take any legal action in this matter”.

The distribution of music to an audience or its use first goes through a mandatory step with the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers (Sacem). To use a piece from their repertoire, you must first request authorization and pay the copyright, reminds the site Slate.fr. “Sacem will manage the heritage use of the work, everything that has to do with the remuneration of the artists”explains Inès Bouzayen, lawyer in the intellectual property department of the August Debouzy law firm.

But it is not enough to be in good standing with Sacem to be able to use a song. The artist may in fact object to the use of his work in the name of his moral rights as an author and/or as a performing artist. Any modification (recovery, remixing, etc.) of the work must therefore be submitted to the artist or his rights holders but also the uses, as in advertising.

“Moral law is a great specificity of French law since it has two characteristics: it is discretionary and arbitrary. You say that you do not want this use and you do not have to justify yourself to the judge”explains Marc-Oliver Deblanc, lawyer specializing in intellectual property law and founder of the Barnett lawyers firm.

The only limit is not to use this right excessively, this is what we call the abuse of moral rights. “Apart from the hypothesis of abuse, you can, for reasons that concern you, say that you do not want your music to be associated with a brand, a film or political ideas”, continues the lawyer. Especially since being associated with images of a political meeting can also be considered, according to the lawyer, as an association with a brand, “since the National Rally is a trademark registered with the National Institute of Industrial Property (Inpi)”.

If he considers that there has been an attack on the spirit of the work, the artist can therefore request compensation but generally this does not go as far as the court. “We find an agreement between lawyersdevelops Marc-Oliver Deblanc, either to remove all the content with the artist’s work and leave it there, or we request financial compensation since there was a flaw in the system.” However, some cases are emblematic and have gone as far as a trial. Jean Ferrat had notably contested his appearance in compilations alongside artists calling into question for him his values ​​and his political convictions. An attack on his moral rights recognized by the courts in 2006. Another example, a street artist obtained compensation in 2023 after his work The Asian Marianne appeared in campaign clips for La France insoumise.

But for lawyer Inès Bouzayen, “the courts remain quite reluctant to condemn strongly for an attack on the spirit of the work. This remains difficult to demonstrate because you cannot abuse this right and you cannot ban just anyone. You really need fairly legitimate reasons.” In the case of the use of music during a political rally, the moment when the music is played is important. “We do not consider that music is associated with political ideas when it simply plays in the background. [hors des discours des politiques]believes lawyer Marc-Oliver Deblanc. On the other hand, if the song appears at the beginning or end of a meeting, or if we decide to make a message out of it, that will be different.”

The same goes for hidden messages, continues the lawyer. The use of the song 1987 of Calogero at the end of the National Rally meeting may appear symbolic. At that time, the National Front, the former name of the RN, was present for the first time on the benches of the National Assembly. It was also the year when Jean-Marie Le Pen minimized the role of the gas chambers in the extermination of Jews during the Second World War.