Music downloads get parental warnings

GROOVY BEATASTIC MUSIC DOWNLOADS have been given a touch of the granddad with some parental guideline stickers.

The stickers first came to the fore in the late 80s and early 90s when rappers terrified people like Tipper Gore into insisting that parents should judge a music CD by its cover, or specifically, a sticker thereon.

Those days never went away and now they are digital, thanks to the new Parental Advisory scheme in the UK.

"Putting parents in control" is the tag line there, and the mission is to protect the kids by alerting their parents whenever they might be able to hear a swearword said, and we do not mean when dad is fixing the plumbing.

The digital stickers come from the British Phonographic Industry and have some big players in the music download industry playing along.

"The logo is most commonly seen on CDs and DVDs but is also used by digital music services where music is listened to online - such as We7 and Vevo - and by online retailers - such as iTunes and Amazon - where music products can be bought. The logo is an integral part of the Parental Advisory Scheme," says the web site set up to explain its existence.

There is no guidance as to where the warnings should appear, but the notice that some songs might be "explicit" is a regular occurrence on music download web sites already.

"BPI guidelines do not stipulate an age to which the content bearing the Logo should apply. It is the responsibility of a parent to decide whether their child should be allowed to see and hear material to which the logo has been applied."

This will be easy for helicopter parents, but meaningless for others with less control over their offsprings' purchases. It is also voluntary.

More firms are expected to sign up in the new year according to the BPI, and its CEO Geoff Taylor said that parents, particularly those that are worried about how their children will spend their Christmas money, should appreciate the stickers.

"We know that the parental advisory logo on CDs and DVDs has been a useful tool for parents, offering them a simple means of identifying music content that may not be suitable for their children," he said.

"We believe that parents need the same guidance when their children are downloading or streaming songs or videos online, so we have extended the logo to digital music services." µ