Nile Rodgers Takes Legal Action Against Swiss Far-Right Party Over ‘We Are Family’ Soundalike

Prominent US producer, composer, and guitarist Nile Rodgers has expressed strong disapproval of the use of a “soundalike” version of Sister Sledge’s ‘We Are Family’ by Switzerland’s far-right populist Swiss People’s Party (SVP).

Rodgers has demanded that the SVP cease and desist from using the soundalike track in their political campaigns. He took to social media on Tuesday (August 15) to condemn its unauthorized use, emphasizing that neither Sister Sledge nor himself granted permission.

In a statement earlier this week, Rodgers expressed, “I wrote ‘We Are Family’ to be the ultimate song about inclusion and diversity at all levels, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.”

Rodgers is now collaborating with Hipgnosis, Sony, and Warner to issue a cease and desist order against the use of the 1979 hit track. The original campaign video has been taken down with a copyright infringement notice that reads, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright infringement complaint from Sony Music Publishing.”

An SVP delegate, Thomas Matter, credited as DJ Tommy in the soundalike version of ‘We Are Family’ and ranked as the second wealthiest politician in Switzerland in 2017, stated to Swiss outlet Blick that only “a few notes” were similar, and that the track had not been directly copied.

He explained, “I know the song by Sister Sledge, that’s also a super song. But ‘Das Isch d’SVP’ was written especially for this project and has nothing to do with ‘We Are Family’.”

“In pop music, there are a million songs that sound alike, there’s nothing surprising or new about that,” he added.