Yesterday, Los Angeles four-piece Silversun Pickups issued an official statement to the Mitt Romney campaign asking they cease-and-desist using their song “Panic Switch” during events.
TMZ has retained a copy of the letter the band sent the Romney campaign:
“Seems as if the GOP is once again whimsically ignoring our great nation’s laws to do whatever it wants to do, and shooting itself in the foot in the process. Without any regard for copyright or intellectual property laws, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has, without permission, begun to use Silversun Pickups’ 2009 smash “Panic Switch” at campaign stops across the country. Neither the band nor its representatives were contacted to gain permission for the use of the song and the band has no intention of endorsing the Romney campaign. The band’s attorney issued a cease and desist today.
“We don’t like people going behind our backs, using our music without asking, and we don’t like the Romney campaign. We’re nice, approachable people. We won’t bite. Unless you’re Mitt Romney! We were very close to just letting this go because the irony was too good. While he is inadvertently playing a song that describes his whole campaign, we doubt that ‘Panic Switch’ really sends the message he intends.”
According to Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul, however, the song was “inadvertently” played during only one event, during the set-up. “As anyone who attends Gov. Romney’s events knows,” she said, “This is not a song we would have played intentionally… But we will not play it again.”
