MGMT FTW against Sarkozy’s party

MGMT won a settlement from French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party after threatening to sue them for playing “Kids” at campaign rallies and in online videos without the band’s permission earlier this year .

Which was funny because the UMP is all about cracking down on Internet piracy, and has been pushing harsh legislation against  it for the past few months.

According to Reuters, the UMP is paying them a settlement fee of 30,000 euros (about $39,050) in compensation. Way to cash in!

And MGMT is keeping it classy – here’s their statement about the matter on their official site:

Normally MGMT steers clear of mixing music and politics, but the fact that the UMP used our song without permission while simultaneously pushing anti-piracy legislation seemed a little wack. We believe that access to music benefits both the musicians and the fans, and has undoubtedly helped spread our music around the globe, while also expanding our personal musical collections.

We didn’t want to be “typical Americans” and sue, despite the amazing monetary benefit and chinchilla coats and Navigators it would bring. Instead we’re using the settlement fee the UMP presented and donating it to artists rights organizations. Thank you France for the wonderful food. C’est bon.

Here’s one of the UMP’s offending videos, which you can probably stop watching once Sarkozy appears (unless you understand French and care enough about France’s internal politics):

Reuters: MGMT win piracy row with Sarkozy’s party