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``They
want this whole thing to go away and keep doing what
they've been doing, which is selling records,'' said
Don Gorder, chair of the Music Business/Management Department
at the Berklee College of Music.
While
music industry leaders remain reticent, others are reacting
very publicly:
Ebony
magazine pulled the rapper Ludacris from its June cover.
Verizon dropped pitchman Akon after video surfaced of
the singer simulating sex with an underage fan on stage.
Chart-topper Chamillionaire says his new CD contains
no curses or n-words. Percy ``Master P'' Miller, founder
of No Limit Records, whose son Romeo also is a recording
artist, says he's starting a new label for ``street
music without offensive lyrics.''
``I
was once part of the problem and now it's time to be
part of the solution,'' Miller, whose gangsta raps once
sold millions of albums but have been met with indifference
lately, told AllHipHop.com. ``I am ready to take a stand
by cleaning up my music and follow my son's footsteps
and make a clean rap album.''
The
Rev. Al Sharpton, who protested outside major record
labels last week, is planning to lead busloads of protesters
to music executives' homes in the Hamptons over Memorial
Day weekend.
``It's
indefensible,'' Sharpton said of why the record executives
keep silent. ``They're hoping it'll go away. We're not
going anywhere. We plan to continue to march until those
three words are gone, until those four companies agree
in some way that the use of the words ``nigga,'' ``ho,''
and ``bitch'' should be beneath our standards.''
Sharpton
met recently with executives from Universal Music Group,
Warner Music Group Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment,
who ``expressed different measures of concern'' but
made no commitments, he said.
The
four major recording companies account for close to
90 percent of U.S. music sales through traditional distribution
channels, said Jerry Goolsby, who holds a chair in music
industry studies at Loyola University, adding that it
is difficult for the industry to track sales in the
emerging digital landscape.
Sharpton
said there seems to be a double standard when it comes
to controversial lyrics. In the 1990s, the songs ``They
Don't Care About Us'' by Michael Jackson (which included
terms like ``Jew me'' and ``kike me'') and ``Cop Killer''
by rapper-turned actor Ice T drew a strong response
from the industry. Jackson was even forced to re-record
his song.
``I
didn't hear any of these guys jumping up talking about
free speech when Michael's record came out,'' Sharpton
said. ``But you can talk about blacks and women? Why
is it ``nigger,'' ``ho'' and ``bitch'' is below our
standard? You can't have it where blacks are the only
ones in America where there's no standards.''
Some
in the music industry, such as Russell Simmons, one
of hip-hop culture's chief architects, have defended
rappers' free-speech rights. Simmons, who got rich by
co-founding and then selling the seminal Def Jam label,
recently called for the three words at the center of
the debate to be treated the same as extreme profanities
and consistently blanked out of ``clean'' and radio
versions of songs.
The
closest the industry has come to a public discussion
is when Warner Music Group vice president Kevin Lilies
appeared on Oprah Winfrey's show and acknowledged ``there's
a problem.''
At
Universal, a division of the publicly traded French
company Vivendi, chairman Doug Morris and president
Zach Horowitz have declined repeated requests from The
Associated Press to discuss the issue. Universal, in
a partnership with Interscope Records, is home to hardcore
rap superstars such as 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg.
Warner
chairman and chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. led
a group of investors who bought Warner Music Group from
Time Warner Inc. for more than $2 billion (euro1.48
billion). Warner, which went public in 2005, recently
announced second-quarter losses and planned job cuts.
Bronfman and Lyor Cohen, Warner's chairman and chief
executive of U.S. music, also have declined repeated
queries.
The label is home to T.I., a former drug dealer who
according to Billboard figures released the top-selling
rap album of 2006.
At
Sony, chairman Andrew Lack and chief executive Rolph
Schmidt-Holtz have turned down all requests for interviews.
Sony BMG is a joint venture of Sony Corporation of America
(part of the Sony Corp. in Japan) and Bertelsmann AG
(a German company whose stock is held by a foundation
and the Mohn family).
Eric
Nicoli, head of the publicly traded London-based EMI
Group, also has declined to talk about the matter. The
troubled company also recently announced restructuring
and job elimination.
The
ailing Big Four have released short statements saying
they value their artists' right to express themselves,
``even if that means some of their music will not appeal
to all listeners,''
Universal said. They noted that they use warning stickers
and work with broadcasters to edit controversial words,
``including those that are the focus of the current
public debate,'' Warner said.
The
companies say they discuss the issue with artists, broadcasters,
community leaders and public officials. Warner's statement
went further, saying the company took ``issues regarding
the role of women and minorities in society very seriously.''
Warner
and EMI said they welcomed dialogue. ``Where controversy
occurs,'' EMI's statement read, ``we will be open to
debate on the issues.''
But
some say the executives' refusal to engage in that debate
publicly is tinged with race. The very top executives
in the music industry are white men, observed Lisa Fager,
who co-founded IndustryEars, a think tank focused on
the media's impact on minorities and children.
``Nobody
wants to put the white man's face on things,'' said
Fager, who is black and once worked in the music industry
on artist development. ``They don't want to see the
real person behind it.''
Gorder,
of the Berklee College of Music, believes their reluctance
is rooted in the bottom line: The major companies fear
that if they don't distribute the music with sexist
and violent music, independents will.
``They're
scared to death that the market for this is going to
be hurt,'' Gorder said. ``The outcry could have an effect
on sales. If it raises consciousness among people who
have historically bought this music and thought it was
OK, well, that's lost sales. Executives' bonuses are
tied to sales and they don't want to destroy this market.''
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