Pink Floyd, Blur battle BNP over music

Pink Floyd and Blur are among the musicians who have spoken out against the British Nationalist Party using their music to raise campaign funds, reports The Times.

The political group has been selling folk albums on its website, while its commercial partner Excalibur has been offering compilation CDs with titles such as Proud Heritage and Rule Britannia.

Billy Bragg, Pink Floyd's Nick Mason and Blur drummer Dave Rowntree have now joined the Musicians' Union and Featured Artists' Coalition in a bid to stop the BNP using their music to promote its beliefs.

The organisation is seeking a legally recognised moral right to control where their music is reproduced and published. Artists currently have no rights to stop specific outlets selling their music once it has been sold to a wholesaler or distributor.

However, a representative from the BNP said that the party has no plans to remove any of the songs.

"They’ve already made there money, haven’t they? Once that music’s gone through a distributor. They’re politicising themselves to a high degree by doing this and we wouldn’t really be concerned by that. It’s up to us what we sell - we’re not changing," said the spokesperson.

"There’s no suggestion through this that artists support the BNP or otherwise. They’re barking up the wrong tree, to be honest."