AN Edinburgh-based band has hit out at the White House after they claim the US administration used one of their songs in a video posted on social media without their permission.
Electronic music pioneers Boards of Canada have said they “do not condone the unauthorised use” of their music for “political messaging” after their song Deep Time was used in a promotional video by the White House on Thursday.
The track from the duo’s upcoming fifth studio album was used in the short clip, which appeared to show helicopters arriving outside the White House along with a border patrol boat traveling across some water.
The video also features the Washington monument along with what seems to be a detention centre and the White House logo in a degraded VHS-style aesthetic — presented in a style reminiscent of Boards of Canada’s own.
The duo, consisting of Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin, said in a now seemingly deleted joint statement with their record label on Friday: “Warp Records and Boards of Canada do not condone the unauthorised use of their music for political messaging.”
Following the White House posting the video on its Instagram, thousands of people flocked to the comment section, calling on the band to take action against the alleged unauthorised use of their music.
One person wrote: “Boards of Canada file a copyright claim.”
Another said: “Boards of Canada please sue them into oblivion, jfc”
Meanwhile, a third said: “You obviously understand nothing about Boards of Canada's music.”
A fourth added: “Ain’t no way the White House is using Boards of Canada's music for their propaganda. This is wild.”
Deep Time was the first taste of Boards of Canada’s upcoming Inferno, their first album in 13 years, from the duo who are originally from Cullen in Moray.
Boards of Canada (below) are not the first artists to call out the US administration for using their work without permission in promotional videos.
In 2024, Sinead O’Connor’s estate demanded US president Donald Trump to stop using Nothing Compares 2 U at his rallies.
Meanwhile, Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand were left “furious” in March after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) used the band’s hit track Take Me Out in a propaganda video without their consent.
Franz Ferdinand’s frontman Alex Kapranos slammed the IDF for their “vile arrogance” for using the band’s 2004 track, which showed fighter jets, warships, and explosions as an Israeli soldier celebrates the country’s deadly attacks on Iran.
In a statement on his Instagram, Kapranos wrote: “These warmongering murderers are using our music without our consent. This makes us both nauseous and furious.
“Kind of typical, though, isn’t it? To strut up and take what isn’t theirs with a vile arrogance…”
