Online music and videos to get explicit 'sticker' in UK

Online music and videos to get explicit 'sticker' in UK
Our parental advisory is: don't leave your kids alone with a connected device

Online music and video that includes strong language, sex or violence offered to the UK audience will be given an parental advisory 'explicit content' logo on key sites from today.

The scheme, run by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) sees its already well-established physical labelling system moved into the online world.

The virtual sticker will be applied on Amazon, iTunes, HMV and Napster – and is intended to help guide parents as to what is appropriate for their children.

Naturally worrying

Singer Jamelia told The Telegraph: "As a parent, naturally I worry about whether my kids are viewing and listening to appropriate content when they're online, but without some form of guidance it can be almost impossible to stay on top of what's suitable and what's not.

"I think parents would agree that having the same logo for online music services that we're used to seeing in the high street gives parents the ability to quickly and easily judge whether a song or music video is right for their child."

Of course, as with all of these things, it's probably worth pointing out that parents won't actually SEE the labels ahead of their kids purchasing the content unless they actually spend some time supervising them in the wild west that is the web.

Still, it's nice to be mentioning the BPI without talking about its crusade against piracy.

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.