What the hell? This isn’t an election advertisement. This is someone expressing their views in music and video. The election commission are usually ok in their assessments. But this one doesn’t appear to have any real basis behind it.
Adam Bennett at the NZ Herald says
But Mr Watson posted on Facebook this afternoon that he had just had a “super interesting chat with The Electoral Commission just now”.
“It appears we may be gagged.”
He later posted that “the story is the Electoral Commission have advised a Access Radio station not to play Planet Key as it may be a contravention of the act.”
The commission this afternoon confirmed it had banned television and radio broadcasts of the song and said it was also considering whether it was an election advertisement which would require a promoter statement to be carried in online video versions.
I rather think that if and when this gets challenged in court that it will be overturned. Apart from anything else, it clearly violates parts of the Bill of Rights Act, and appears to rely on the very very narrow interpretation of the Electoral Act.
Source: vimeo
Planet Key is written and performed by Darren Watson. The video was created by Jeremy Jones from Propeller Motion. This project is entirely self funded so by buying this song you are also contributing to the cost of this work. Think of it as helping with the trickle down.
This song can be purchased at itunes
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