Following on from this band theme, is National's purchase of an
Eminem-like track for use in a TV advert.
The ad was something like this.
APRA are the usual agency for handling the use of songs by artists, and you often have to get the permission of the performers and the writer of the lyrics to use it in the particular way, and also pay a fee. This can take months to organise. The more widespread the use, the higher the fee.
If you even play a radio in a retail space, you are supposed to pay a fee to APRA.
In this case, and even after falling foul of the rules in previous campaigns, the National Party (who include Steven Joyce, ex radio stations owner) and their agents deliberately chose a backing track that was passing off Eminem's track, because they could save a lot of money and yet get the same effect, if they could just get away with it. Some muso in a studio had strummed out most of the same Eminem chords, put the track up for sale on a website, and was making cash out of it. Most of the cheaper tracks like this are more original, they'd have needed to look hard to find it. It turns out Eminem would never have given them permission for the real track.
Just like National to take the easy way out, and disregard musicians. As a govt, they don't mind doling out millions to big business, while SMEs are shut down.
Now it looks like that copied track has been deleted from available tracks on the achive, pending a lawsuit.
Here's an old music video that was penned when Robert Muldoon was in power.
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/ther...w-zealand-1981