China seeks to delete Lady Gaga
By Wang Qingchu |
August 27, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Ministry of Culture has ordered domestic music download websites to delete 100 songs by Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Beyonce and other overseas pop singers and bands, saying they hadn't obtained government approval.
The ministry posted a list of 100 songs - including Lady Gaga's "Judas" and Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" - that had to be removed because they had not been submitted for screening.
The websites have until September 15 to remove the songs or face punishment, according to an online statement from the ministry.
A campaign was launched to clamp down on the spread of unapproved songs as they "disturbed the market order and threatened national cultural security," the ministry's statement said.
Six Lady Gaga songs were on the list, all from her latest album. The 12-year-old ballad "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys was also targeted. Dozens of Hong Kong and Taiwan pop songs and a few Japanese hits were listed as well.
The order has aroused an outcry among fans and singers who were unable to find out how these songs endangered "national cultural security."
There was no indication in the ministry's statement that any of the songs had been found objectionable, just that they had not been submitted for approval.
Some online posts said the order could be part of the ministry's efforts to fight piracy and that the songs on the list were among those most frequently pirated.
"The move was meant to fight copyright infringement. Lady Gaga's songs were not distributed in China but were everywhere on the downloading sites," was one comment on weibo.com.
It is the third time this year that the ministry has published lists of songs which had not been submitted for screening.
The previous two batches, 100 songs each time, were announced by the ministry on January 7 and March 18.
The ministry posted a list of 100 songs - including Lady Gaga's "Judas" and Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" - that had to be removed because they had not been submitted for screening.
The websites have until September 15 to remove the songs or face punishment, according to an online statement from the ministry.
A campaign was launched to clamp down on the spread of unapproved songs as they "disturbed the market order and threatened national cultural security," the ministry's statement said.
Six Lady Gaga songs were on the list, all from her latest album. The 12-year-old ballad "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys was also targeted. Dozens of Hong Kong and Taiwan pop songs and a few Japanese hits were listed as well.
The order has aroused an outcry among fans and singers who were unable to find out how these songs endangered "national cultural security."
There was no indication in the ministry's statement that any of the songs had been found objectionable, just that they had not been submitted for approval.
Some online posts said the order could be part of the ministry's efforts to fight piracy and that the songs on the list were among those most frequently pirated.
"The move was meant to fight copyright infringement. Lady Gaga's songs were not distributed in China but were everywhere on the downloading sites," was one comment on weibo.com.
It is the third time this year that the ministry has published lists of songs which had not been submitted for screening.
The previous two batches, 100 songs each time, were announced by the ministry on January 7 and March 18.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
