Tania Branigan reports about newly banned list of 100 Western songs that are not approved by the Ministry of Culture. All links to these songs must be removed by music websites in China by September 15th, 2011. The reason: because they allegedly have never been submitted for approval.
According to Ms Braningan the list is based on the 2009 directive to tackle poor taste and vulgar content. Not sure whether she means the Some Opinions Concerning Stimulating Our Country’s Audiovisual Industry’s Healthy and Orderly Growth published by the General Administration for the Press and Publication (GAPP) on July 20, 2009 and translated by my scholarly friend Rogier Creemers of China Copyright and Media. In the opinions the GAPP makes clear that it abhors “audiovisual products with vulgar and even sexual content drifting into the market”.
Lady Gaga leads the blacklisted one hundred, since she was mentioned six times in the list. Also banned are songs from Katy Perry, Britney Spears.Interestingly enough also relatively old songs were on the list, including the 1998 song “I want it that way”, from the Backstreet Boys. Read Ms Branigan’s article for The Guardian here.