From the clubs to the torture chambers, the U.S. Department of Defense is learning that music licensing knows no bounds after it received a bill for $666,000 from a rock band for using its music to to torment Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Skinny Puppy, a Canadian industrial rock act, said the band may even file a lawsuit against the government if it refuses to pay the band for using its material in the sonic torture that was revealed to be taking place on the Cuban base a few years ago.
The band reportedly learned about the unauthorized use of its music from a former Guantanamo Bay guard, who happened to be a fan.
Skinny Puppy keyboardist Cevin Key told CTV News he was “offended” to learn their music was being used as a “weapon” to “inflict damage” on prisoners, and that it could be “a terrible nightmare” for some listeners.
“I wouldn’t want to be subjected to any overly loud music for six to 12 hours at a time without a break,” Key said.
Trent Reznor of the popular American industrial rock and electronica act Nine Inch Nails echoed those sentiments in 2008 when he found out his music was being used in a similar fashion.
“It’s difficult for me to imagine anything more profoundly insulting, demeaning and enraging than discovering music you’ve put your heart and soul into creating has been used for purposes of torture,” Reznor said, according to a fan blog.
At the time Reznor and other acts campaigned against the Obama administration to close Guantanamo in protest.