On 6 August 2014 the satirical song & video Planet Key was published online with the song made available for purchase on itunes. Wellington musician Darren Watson wrote and recorded the song and the animated video was created by Jeremy Jones of Propeller Motion. Both the song & video was self funded and the pair agreed to split revenue from sale of song to help recover costs. The NZ Electoral Commission considered both song & video, with New Zealand General Election looming on 20 September 2014, to be a political broadcast and had it banned from all radio or television airplay other than part of a news broadcast. Despite this the song continued to rise in the NZ Single Charts and after just over 2 weeks reached #5. The video which was available to view for free on both Vimeo & You Tube had reached nearly 200,000 plays. The Electoral Commission then considered both song & video to be a third party electoral advertisement and threatened the makers with prosecution and a fine of up to $40,000 unless the makers registered as third party advertisers and added their names & addresses both visually and clearly audible on song. Watson & Jones did not agree with ruling and removed song from sale on itunes & removed video from online sites to avoid prosecution and breaching ruling. The pair then challenged the ruling of the NZ Electoral Commission in the NZ High Court and were granted a hearing under urgency on 11 September 2014.

 

On 2 April 2015 a substantial 76 page judicial ruling from Justice Clifford was released ruling that the song & video were neither a political broadcast or a political advertisement.

 

Darren Watson & Jeremy Jones have made the video available online & have re released song on itunes & amplifier.co.nz with all artists royalties from sales going to Red Cross to support relief efforts in Nepal.

The single is available at Amplifier or itunes