Martha and the Muffins call for Poilievre to stop using ‘Echo Beach’ at rallies

Martha Johnson and Mark Gane of the Martha and the Muffins are shown in this handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Martha and the Muffins *MANDATORY CREDIT*

TORONTO — The Toronto band Martha and the Muffins is calling on Pierre Poilievre to stop using “Echo Beach” at his campaign rallies without their authorization.

Members of the group say they’ve been told the Conservative Party of Canada has been playing their 1980 new wave hit at some campaign events despite the musicians asking them to stop last month.

Representatives for the Conservative party did not respond to a request for comment.

Band member Mark Gane says he first learned Poilievre’s campaign had used “Echo Beach” after reading a story in a local Sudbury newspaper earlier this year. He says his manager then sent a cease and desist request to the Conservative party.

Since then, he says fans in other parts of the country have told him they’ve heard the song played at campaign rallies.

Gane says he finds it “disrespectful” that the Conservative party didn’t honour the band’s request and worries some Canadians may assume they support their policies.

“We don’t want to be associated by our work in any shape or form with them,” he told The Canadian Press on Monday, election day.

Martha and the Muffins issued a statement saying they did not endorse or support the use of their music at political events.

“‘Echo Beach’ remains a song about escapism, imagination, and personal expression -- not a soundtrack for partisan political campaigns,” it said in part.

“Martha and the Muffins demand that Mr. Poilievre and the Conservative Party immediately cease the use of their music.”

Gane said the unauthorized use of artists’ songs at political events highlights a broader disregard for the rights of musicians that stretches beyond this federal election.

“It seems to be an ongoing problem,” he said, pointing to Neil Young, who filed and then dropped a lawsuit against now-U.S. President Donald Trump over music at rallies for Trump’s failed 2020 presidential bid.

“This is one of many instances where a political party thinks they can just grab somebody’s copyrighted material, in this case being a song, and just (use) it for their own political ends.”

He said Canadian music organizations, in particular the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), should put greater efforts into policing the unauthorized use of music at campaign rallies.

Fraser Turnball, part of SOCAN’s legal counsel, said there are various levels of licensing involved in how a musician’s work is used in a political campaign.

For instance, music licences tied to SOCAN members allow for any song in the organization’s repertoire to be performed once the applicable license fees are paid. If a song is played at a political rally an additional fee is paid to non-profit licensing company Re:Sound, he added.

Turnball said “moral rights” are also a consideration, especially if the song is being used for a cause that is “to the prejudice of the author’s honour of reputation.”

“That could be an infringement of their moral right to integrity of the work,” he wrote in an email.

“The author of the work would have to pursue a claim for the infringement of (their) moral rights in such a case.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2025.

Article written by David Friend, The Canadian Press