Feb 25, 2016
Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently released a campaign video publicly endorsing presidential candidate Ted Cruz. What’s the fuss? The video features a song from fellow Texans and post-rock act Explosions In The Sky, who definitely did not grant permission to use their music. The song, “Your Hand In Mine,” is off the band’s 2003 album The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place and is pretty perfect campaign music. “It is our duty as Texas conservatives to support a leader that we can trust to restore our values. That’s why I am supporting Ted Cruz for president,” Abbot remarked over Explosion’s In The Sky’s jangly, tranquil guitar sound. The band, however, is less than thrilled:
@AlibiPierce we are absolutely not okay with it. Those are two people we don't like very much. We'll get to the bottom of this. Thanks.
— ExplosionsInTheSky (@EITS) February 24, 2016
The high-profile endorsement is actually a fairly big deal, with the Texas primary coming up on March 1st. Abbot and Cruz go way back, with Abbot serving as Texas’s attorney general while Cruz was the state’s solicitor general. The band doesn’t seem to be making any clear moves towards legal action, maybe preoccupied with their upcoming album release, The Wilderness, due to reach audiences April 1st.
The video has since been taken down, with a statement from the band’s label: "Temporary Residence and Explosions In The Sky issued an immediate takedown of the Ted Cruz campaign video, as it violates the artist and label's copyrights. No attempt was made by Ted Cruz's campaign to seek permission to use this song. All uses of Explosions In The Sky's music in Ted Cruz's campaign are illegal and in direct violation of U.S. Copyright law."
IMAGE: Interview Magazine