Hey kids! Now you’ll be able to recognize which CDs are the hottest (you know the ones — the ones your parents wouldn’t want you to have) because they will be clearly labeled!

Cool parents will be able to demonstrate their flexibility by purchasing such discs, in large numbers, for their insecure teenagers, while big businesses can rest assured that they will be better insulated from (those nasty) occasional suicides.

See the Wall St. Journal piece by Yochi J. Dreazen:

BMG Records goes out on a limb with detailed parental warnings —
Explicit content to be noted on albums, advertising.

Acting
voluntarily, BMG plans to place new advisory stickers on certain albums,
specifying whether they have violent content, sexual content, strong language
or some combination of the three, officials say. BMG plans to include the
more-detailed warnings in advertising, including television, radio, print and
online ads for the albums concerned…

…BMG officials say they are sensitive to concerns that warning stickers, or
ratings, could crimp artistic expression by making it easy for retailers and
consumers to shun music they deem offensive. “There is definitely a need to
balance the preservation of free artistic expression with the need and desire
to address consumers’ concerns that the labels didn’t tell them enough
information,” says LaVerne Evans, BMG’s senior vice president and general
counsel. “We feel that these new labels do that.”

Of course, parental warnings often have a way of helping sales, by turning an
album into forbidden fruit and making teens want to hear it. And many albums
and CDs that have been edited to remove explicit content, and are labeled
accordingly, haven’t sold well.