YouTube, Spotify to get Parental Advisory labels

Parental advisory, coming to the web
Parental advisory, coming to the web

It's like the '90s all over again, as the familiar Parental Advisory label is set to be introduced to digital music and video services like Spotify and YouTube.

It's only taken music industry body BPI the best part of a decade to cotton on to the fact that people use the internet to listen to music and watch movies, with the organisation set to "update our scheme for the digital age".

The parental advisory label was first introduced to CD covers in 1995 to warn parents that the latest pop CDs their kids were into contained explicit material, including swearing, violent turns of phrase and references to sex - oh my!

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, said, "We think it is important for parents to get the same standards of guidance and information online as they get when buying CDs or DVDs on the high street.

"We are updating our Parental Advisory Scheme for the digital age to ensure that explicit songs and videos are clearly labelled, giving parents the ability to identify material that may not be appropriate for their children."

YouTube

The move comes just as YouTube is set to invest in European video content with an initiative called NextUp.

The Google-owned video site will award €20,000 funding to 25 European YouTubers with Partner status, as well as access to a four-day training event to help them create high quality, monetisable content.

Via The Guardian, The Next Web

News Editor (UK)

Former UK News Editor for TechRadar, it was a perpetual challenge among the TechRadar staff to send Kate (Twitter, Google+) a link to something interesting on the internet that she hasn't already seen. As TechRadar's News Editor (UK), she was constantly on the hunt for top news and intriguing stories to feed your gadget lust. Kate now enjoys life as a renowned music critic – her words can be found in the i Paper, Guardian, GQ, Metro, Evening Standard and Time Out, and she's also the author of 'Amy Winehouse', a biography of the soul star.

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