Music in the election campaign: Grönemeyer also bans the use of Green songs

After the CDU, music star Herbert Grönemeyer also banned the Greens from using his hit “Time for something to turn” for the election campaign. Grönemeyer’s media lawyer Christian Schertz said in response to a request from the German Press Agency: “Today we also asked the Alliance 90/The Greens party and Mr. Habeck to refrain from publishing songs by Herbert Grönemeyer in the future, specifically the song “Time that “What’s going on” is used for election campaign purposes.

His client has a clear stance on this and “fundamentally does not want his person or his songs to be used by political parties for any kind of election advertising, especially without his consent.”

Habeck wants to lead the Greens in the election campaign as candidate for chancellor. This was announced this morning. He had previously hinted at the step on Platform X. Almost six years after leaving Twitter and Facebook, he returned to social media. In one of his X-Posts, Habeck can be seen editing a text manuscript. In the background there is a calendar on which November 8th, today’s Friday, is outlined in red. He also hums the melody of the Grönemeyer hit “Time for something to turn”.

The Greens initially left an inquiry from the dpa about Schertz’s request unanswered. In the early afternoon the post was still online unchanged – including Habeck humming.

Already trouble for the CDU

The CDU recently got into trouble with the song Habeck chose. Grönemeyer had banned its use through his lawyer Schertz. The occasion: At the end of October, the youth organization Junge Union (JU) had the Grönemeyer song played at their meeting in Halle in Saxony-Anhalt while the Union’s candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz was entering the hall – and the following was introduced: “Welcome him with me next Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany”.

After Grönemeyer’s ban, the CDU changed a YouTube video of Merz’s performance and the song can no longer be heard. When asked by the dpa, the CDU did not comment on Grönemeyer’s ban.

The 68-year-old star released the song in 2006 and it became the World Cup anthem. The music star and rapper $oho Bani reinterpreted the song after years together. The rap remix was released this year and climbed the charts during the European Football Championship. This new version was recorded at the JU meeting.

The Society for Musical Performance and Mechanical Reproduction Rights – GEMA for short – takes care of copyrights for musicians and, in response to a dpa request, stated that parties are allowed to use music for their events like any other organizer. A party does not have to ask the artist or band for permission beforehand.

“If an author does not want his work to be used at a particular political event, he or his music publisher must take action against it,” it continues. It cannot be said in general terms at what point the use of music constitutes a violation of personal rights and can therefore be attacked by an author. That is a question of the context and the individual case.