China’s Ministry of Culture has ordered the purging of 100 songs from music download sites within the next three weeks. The list of offending tunes include those of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and the Backstreet Boys.
It turns out that there is a mandatory government screening process, a rule meant to preserve China’s “national cultural security” that some artists are bypassing.
Six Lady Gaga songs are on the hit list, all from her latest album. Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night and the Backstreet Boys vintage hit I Want it That Way were also targeted.
Offending download sites were issued a stern warning on August 19 that they have until September 15 to carry out “self-correction” and delete the songs or face unspecified punishment.
The Chinese government didn’t say that the songs were necessarily objectionable, just they they had not been approved for distribution. The clear message to recording artists seems to be … don’t mess with China.
Photos: WENN