Germanys authorities have decided on new rating labels for multimedia content in 2008 already. Back then I only realized it on DVDs and blurays, it didn't bother me much to see what audience a society of old conservatives thinks a movie is suited for. Those things look ugly but hey, it's only the cover of a movie right?

For those who don't know what I'm talking about: In Germany we have the FSK (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle: voluntary self-censorship). It's the German equivalent to the USA's MPAA, offering content rating basically to tell parents whether their children can watch that gory splatterfest they want so badly or if it'll turn them into man-hating virgin-raping killing machines.
The introduction of 2008's new label system left a wave of raging DVD customers returning their purchase for a refund because not only are these labels fat and ugly, they are also irremovably printed onto each cover.
The thing about these ratings is that they're voluntary. You don't know whether your favorite movie is rated and therefore comes with a label or not until you have it in your hands. Amazon Germany conveniently dealed with this issue by deleting the few 100.000 complaints and bad votes from their website and pretending nothing happened.

I always thought all that was pretty funny. For once I don't care about the looks of my DVDs and even then it's an established system anyway and buying region 1 DVD's in the US won't help as long as I want to give them to my parents every now and then who like to watch movies in German.

Well, today my latest CD order arrived from Amazon.de. Here's one of them:



So there's my idyllic unicorn-inhabited rainbow island of a beautiful CD collection invaded by the army of cold ugly administration right there. I returned it already and am now looking for a beautiful US version to buy from Amazon.com.
But this is a nice example of good will taken too far. Not that I wasn't fond of knowing that I can already play that album to my newborn children (in fact I was dying to know), but I would go as far as to question the (obviously really bad) influence that musical content can have on children in general. And recovering from that shock I decided to take this perversion to the public. So here you are metalstorm. Loyal, honestly buying collectors punished by a conspiracy of possibly white-bearded bald-headed pencil pushers who think that sung words in a foreign language can stall the development of innocent children into valuable contributors to society.

You're upset that your CD covers have a label on them ? where i live no metal CDs are even SOLD in the first place .. i .. well "we" -unfortunately- have to download our fav. artists music in order to be able to listen to them (yes i know that sucks and that's killing the music bla bla bla but TRUST ME if i can buy the CDs i would)

so, there are people with bigger problems !

I agree that that's shitty. They seem to give more and more reasons to choose illegal downloads over proper CDs and LPs. It's a piece of art. Not just the music, but the packaging and cover picture and the music combined. Placing label info on there is appropriate and perhaps a sticker on the jewel case for controversial CDs but that looks terrible.

Let's slap some PG stickers over the exposed tit in Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus' painting.

I know that I'm being extreme and reactionary there but GGRRRRRRRrrrrrr....

By the way, have you contacted Candlelight to see if all copies are like this? Maybe they'll exchange it. I do realise this seems a bit anal but I'd do that for a CD I liked.

Written by -tom- on 20.04.2010 at 02:01

I agree that that's shitty. They seem to give more and more reasons to choose illegal downloads over proper CDs and LPs. It's a piece of art. Not just the music, but the packaging and cover picture and the music combined. Placing label info on there is appropriate and perhaps a sticker on the jewel case for controversial CDs but that looks terrible.

That's my point. Just like the old "parental advisory ..." stickers on the outside of the plastic foil. But I hardly think this will change in Germany anytime soon. They're way too preoccupied with quick affirmative overreaction to the recent cases of amok runs. Conservatives are the biggest supporters of our government right now (or have been, seen how Germanys "liberals" are screwing the country up, down and sideways as we speak) and the administration would be downright stupid not to try and satisfy them.

Written by -tom- on 20.04.2010 at 02:03

By the way, have you contacted Candlelight to see if all copies are like this? Maybe they'll exchange it. I do realise this seems a bit anal but I'd do that for a CD I liked.

In Germany you can count on that. They're all like that. One dealer I contacted for the exact same version of that CD in the USA couldn't tell me what it looks like because he's remote-selling them. But I'm more worried about future releases anyway. Looks like we're forced to strenghten the US economy after all

That sucks indeed, 'cause if you have it Germany it will probably get to Denmark in the future by national law or via the EU system

My Dark Tranquillity - We Are The Void deluxe edition has that annoying STICKER on it. FFS, it is digipak, so if I remove it it tears. And that album is apparently FSK ab 12 freigegeben.

Asphyx - Death The Brutal Way also has it. But there it is not a sitcker, but imprinted on the slipcase.

It's a sticker on the front of the plastic case isn't it? Or is the "FSK 0" actually printed on the booklet?

I decided to take a look at my Slayer CDs to compare. They have the American parental advisory label imprinted onto the front cover, but its small and not obstructive. But the sticker that Germany seems to use is big, fat, and ugly. It's a damn shame that they have to go and ruin every single album cover with those putrid stickers.

Written by Baz Anderson on 21.04.2010 at 01:35

It's a sticker on the front of the plastic case isn't it? Or is the "FSK 0" actually printed on the booklet?

If it was a sticker on the plastic foil or one put on the jewelcase I wouldn't complain. It's actually imprinted on the booklet.

He who puts stickers on digipacks shall be the first against the wall. Dammit, my first copy of The Angelic Process' "Weighing Souls With Sand" had a sticker on the digipack. I tried to remove it - I fucked up. I bought another copy. Same goddamn sticker. I don't dare trying it again because it's sold out. But I do own the vinyl version too, haha.

Anyway, it's a fucking crime. I just don't get it, either. Is it so goddamn hard to just wrap it in plastic and slap all your silly stickers on the wrapping? IS IT THAT HARD?!

I'm getting pissed off again... Time to take a chill-pill before I off some unlucky fellow.

Written by Lucas on 21.04.2010 at 11:16

He who puts stickers on digipacks shall be the first against the wall. Dammit, my first copy of The Angelic Process' "Weighing Souls With Sand" had a sticker on the digipack. I tried to remove it - I fucked up. I bought another copy. Same goddamn sticker. I don't dare trying it again because it's sold out. But I do own the vinyl version too, haha.

Lucky you. When Dragynfly announced she'd be selling the album again through her paypal account, I ordered one. It never arrived here. And it's not like she's responding to my hails

edit: OK, I just sent her another email. Let's see for once more then.

edit2: Sorry your message to kangylus@... cannot be delivered. This account has been disabled or discontinued

Written by Zombie on 20.04.2010 at 01:27

You're upset that your CD covers have a label on them ? where i live no metal CDs are even SOLD in the first place .. i .. well "we" -unfortunately- have to download our fav. artists music in order to be able to listen to them (yes i know that sucks and that's killing the music bla bla bla but TRUST ME if i can buy the CDs i would)

so, there are people with bigger problems !

That must be pretty shitty. I apologize if I am being ignorant but, do you guys restrictions against wearing band shirts as well? I immediately thought of the documentary "Gobal Metal" when this post came up about, not being able to even buy metal albums and, I recall that some places (I believe one nation in particular in the middle east) people are not allowed to wear band shirts because, it's pretty much against the law. It's seemingly "small" things like this that make me think North America really isn't bad at all with how much freedom of expression we have, even in the US.

In regards to the original post. It is pretty shitty and, I don't understand why there isn't just a sticker on the plastic wrap or, just on the jewel case itself underneath the plastic wrap. The parental advisory logo that's printed on the booklet always bugged me but, I eventually got use to it.

Written by corrupt on 21.04.2010 at 11:34

Lucky you. When Dragynfly announced she'd be selling the album again through her paypal account, I ordered one. It never arrived here. And it's not like she's responding to my hails

I had the exact same thing. In fact, I was in quite good contact with her for a couple of weeks. We discussed TAP together, she even agreed to do an exclusive e-mail interview with me for MS. I also bought a vinyl album off her, but it never arrived. She did once respond to me and promised to go check with the postal service but after that, pure radio silence.

I never really made up my mind whether or not she ripped me off. I can imagine the whole thing is too touchy for her. I'm not sure if she had malicious intentions when she got the news out that she'd sell the album again. But it is unprofessional, and a damn shame. (She also promised to think about re-releasing the older material.)

Written by Lucas on 21.04.2010 at 16:59

Written by corrupt on 21.04.2010 at 11:34

Lucky you. When Dragynfly announced she'd be selling the album again through her paypal account, I ordered one. It never arrived here. And it's not like she's responding to my hails

I had the exact same thing. In fact, I was in quite good contact with her for a couple of weeks. We discussed TAP together, she even agreed to do an exclusive e-mail interview with me for MS. I also bought a vinyl album off her, but it never arrived. She did once respond to me and promised to go check with the postal service but after that, pure radio silence.

I never really made up my mind whether or not she ripped me off. I can imagine the whole thing is too touchy for her. I'm not sure if she had malicious intentions when she got the news out that she'd sell the album again. But it is unprofessional, and a damn shame. (She also promised to think about re-releasing the older material.)

Hm. Interesting. So either she did rip people off or she had more problems shipping to Europe than she admitted. She raised prices once during that process because her original price didn't cover her shipping costs. I even sent her $20 instead of $10 explaining that this album is at least worth 20. She responded quite politely and thankfully. I did half expect her to close that email account one day though. She had posted that email openly and unobfuscated to numerous websites. I can't begin to imagine her spam count at that time.
BUT I guess there's light at the end of the tunnel. After all you did buy the limited digipack somewhere and I trust you are desperate to tell me where

PM sent so there's no further off-topicness.

OK, to get back on topic then: I managed to buy the CD without said label on it. I did so in the Nuclear Blast tent in Wacken. The people there couldn't tell me much about where their items come from so I'm left in the dark as to where to obtain unlabelled CDs in the future. Also I tried emailing Candlelight but they didn't respond.

This whole process did last four months now. But at least I know not to buy from Amazon Germany anymore.

Damn, just buying one copy of the CDs one likes is expensive enough...

In Australia we have these warning labels - http://www.aria.com.au/pages/labelling-code.htm - They're about 2/3 that size IRL but thankfully they're usually stuck on to the jewel case. If they ever are actually printed on the booklet I think it's only if the CD is actually physically made here. The CDs that you find with them actually printed on the booklet have the label smaller as well. One good thing about these as they are just normal stickers so you can even easily peel them off digipak CD cases without wrecking the cardboard.

The dumb thing is that it's very rare to have them on metal CDs. I have purchased copies of Cannibal Corpse's Evisceration Plague and Kill and neither have warnings on them. Yet my copies of their older stuff do. I guess it's just because the music stores here import just about everything, but you can buy Death Metal/Grindcore stuff with coarse language and death/rape/raping dead things/etc lyrical themes with no warnings. Considering Australia is so conservative with everything but flowers and unicorns, this is somewhat amusing. Saying that though more often than not the really popular metal band's CDs do have warnings. Even if they don't have any coarse language or anything. I guess just because it's metal music. As an example my copy of Opeth - Deliverance has a coarse language warning on it.

With non-metal CDs the labels are on basically anything that could be mildly offensive. Which because swearing in chart-topping songs is "cool" a lot of artists slip a "shit" into one song on the CD so they get the warning, in the hope to sell more copies of the discs

Another thing is that back in the day we only had two labels rather than three. They were either one similar to the black label (see above link) or one similar to the red label. So since this blue one has come along, a lot of CDs which u18 people previously couldn't legally purchase (as they had 18+ labels on them), they are now free to purchase 100 copies if they so desire. Yet Australia still doesn't have an R18+ classification for video games Recently Left 4 Dead 2 was banned here (though the first one wasn't) so the creators made an Australian-friendly version with purposely over the top censorship to make a point. The PC version editing was more of a patch though and all you have to do is change a version number in a config file and you get the uncensored game. I could so on for hours about video game censorship over here so I'll just stop now

I don't blame you for returning that Ihsahn CD though, corrupt.

Written by Raiden on 12.08.2010 at 17:49

Damn, just buying one copy of the CDs one likes is expensive enough...

In Australia we have these warning labels - http://www.aria.com.au/pages/labelling-code.htm - They're about 2/3 that size IRL but thankfully they're usually stuck on to the jewel case. If they ever are actually printed on the booklet I think it's only if the CD is actually physically made here. The CDs that you find with them actually printed on the booklet have the label smaller as well. One good thing about these as they are just normal stickers so you can even easily peel them off digipak CD cases without wrecking the cardboard.

The dumb thing is that it's very rare to have them on metal CDs. I have purchased copies of Cannibal Corpse's Evisceration Plague and Kill and neither have warnings on them. Yet my copies of their older stuff do. I guess it's just because the music stores here import just about everything, but you can buy Death Metal/Grindcore stuff with coarse language and death/rape/raping dead things/etc lyrical themes with no warnings. Considering Australia is so conservative with everything but flowers and unicorns, this is somewhat amusing. Saying that though more often than not the really popular metal band's CDs do have warnings. Even if they don't have any coarse language or anything. I guess just because it's metal music. As an example my copy of Opeth - Deliverance has a coarse language warning on it.

With non-metal CDs the labels are on basically anything that could be mildly offensive. Which because swearing in chart-topping songs is "cool" a lot of artists slip a "shit" into one song on the CD so they get the warning, in the hope to sell more copies of the discs

Another thing is that back in the day we only had two labels rather than three. They were either one similar to the black label (see above link) or one similar to the red label. So since this blue one has come along, a lot of CDs which u18 people previously couldn't legally purchase (as they had 18+ labels on them), they are now free to purchase 100 copies if they so desire. Yet Australia still doesn't have an R18+ classification for video games Recently Left 4 Dead 2 was banned here (though the first one wasn't) so the creators made an Australian-friendly version with purposely over the top censorship to make a point. The PC version editing was more of a patch though and all you have to do is change a version number in a config file and you get the uncensored game. I could so on for hours about video game censorship over here so I'll just stop now

I don't blame you for returning that Ihsahn CD though, corrupt.

You're pointing out the perversion of the German system. You expect the labels to be on CDs with language or content unsuitable to children but they're not. In it's German accuracy, our government decided to create a system that rates every (!) CD/DVD/BluRay/... according to scheme. As you can see, Ihsahn's album is suitable for children at the age of 0. Why even put a label on it then?

As for the rest it seems that Australia doesn't differ much from the USA or Germany. Al Gore's wife has her krusade against Cannibal Corpse the same way our media is currently smashing Debauchery because their singer was an ethics teacher. Suddenly people cry for more background control for teachers and other nonsense. The public opinion is, that guy is sick and needs to be locked away...

Written by corrupt on 12.08.2010 at 18:03

Written by Raiden on 12.08.2010 at 17:49

Damn, just buying one copy of the CDs one likes is expensive enough...

In Australia we have these warning labels - http://www.aria.com.au/pages/labelling-code.htm - They're about 2/3 that size IRL but thankfully they're usually stuck on to the jewel case. If they ever are actually printed on the booklet I think it's only if the CD is actually physically made here. The CDs that you find with them actually printed on the booklet have the label smaller as well. One good thing about these as they are just normal stickers so you can even easily peel them off digipak CD cases without wrecking the cardboard.

The dumb thing is that it's very rare to have them on metal CDs. I have purchased copies of Cannibal Corpse's Evisceration Plague and Kill and neither have warnings on them. Yet my copies of their older stuff do. I guess it's just because the music stores here import just about everything, but you can buy Death Metal/Grindcore stuff with coarse language and death/rape/raping dead things/etc lyrical themes with no warnings. Considering Australia is so conservative with everything but flowers and unicorns, this is somewhat amusing. Saying that though more often than not the really popular metal band's CDs do have warnings. Even if they don't have any coarse language or anything. I guess just because it's metal music. As an example my copy of Opeth - Deliverance has a coarse language warning on it.

With non-metal CDs the labels are on basically anything that could be mildly offensive. Which because swearing in chart-topping songs is "cool" a lot of artists slip a "shit" into one song on the CD so they get the warning, in the hope to sell more copies of the discs

Another thing is that back in the day we only had two labels rather than three. They were either one similar to the black label (see above link) or one similar to the red label. So since this blue one has come along, a lot of CDs which u18 people previously couldn't legally purchase (as they had 18+ labels on them), they are now free to purchase 100 copies if they so desire. Yet Australia still doesn't have an R18+ classification for video games Recently Left 4 Dead 2 was banned here (though the first one wasn't) so the creators made an Australian-friendly version with purposely over the top censorship to make a point. The PC version editing was more of a patch though and all you have to do is change a version number in a config file and you get the uncensored game. I could so on for hours about video game censorship over here so I'll just stop now

I don't blame you for returning that Ihsahn CD though, corrupt.

You're pointing out the perversion of the German system. You expect the labels to be on CDs with language or content unsuitable to children but they're not. In it's German accuracy, our government decided to create a system that rates every (!) CD/DVD/BluRay/... according to scheme. As you can see, Ihsahn's album is suitable for children at the age of 0. Why even put a label on it then?

As for the rest it seems that Australia doesn't differ much from the USA or Germany. Al Gore's wife has her krusade against Cannibal Corpse the same way our media is currently smashing Debauchery because their singer was an ethics teacher. Suddenly people cry for more background control for teachers and other nonsense. The public opinion is, that guy is sick and needs to be locked away...

Yeah as if it wouldn't be bad enough on just some CDs... It seems pointless to point out if anyone can listen to an album. Having nothing would be surely as useful.

I think Cannibal Corpse have hate groups wherever they go haha. They weren't allowed to tour here for some time I think. When they came the time before last there were protests from "angry mothers" and the like. Actually a comedy TV show called The Chaser's War On Everything did a rendition of a Cannibal Corpse song at the time [link]

What's wrong with being an ethics teacher btw?

Written by Raiden on 16.08.2010 at 16:38

Written by corrupt on 12.08.2010 at 18:03

[...]
As for the rest it seems that Australia doesn't differ much from the USA or Germany. Al Gore's wife has her krusade against Cannibal Corpse the same way our media is currently smashing Debauchery because their singer was an ethics teacher. Suddenly people cry for more background control for teachers and other nonsense. The public opinion is, that guy is sick and needs to be locked away...

[...]
I think Cannibal Corpse have hate groups wherever they go haha. They weren't allowed to tour here for some time I think. When they came the time before last there were protests from "angry mothers" and the like. Actually a comedy TV show called The Chaser's War On Everything did a rendition of a Cannibal Corpse song at the time [link]

What's wrong with being an ethics teacher btw?

Nothing. Unless you're the singer of a death band with gory themes and bloody shows. I can't provide you with any material in English but apparently the guy asked for some holiday to play a few concerts. Then his superiors looked up his band, found pictures of the band and decided to have him leave. Apparently, death metal themes and ethics don't play so nice together. The situation escalated when mothers of his students got wind of the affair and overreacted beyond imagination. As I said, next stop: Background checks for teachers. I mean, obviously he is a crazy madman, going around killing people and stuff.

That sticker is awful man!

I for one would love to go berzerk on the ones who puts annoying stickers on my CD:s! I don't know how many times I've screamed out in rage when I try to tear one off.

Written by corrupt on 16.08.2010 at 19:21

Written by Raiden on 16.08.2010 at 16:38

Written by corrupt on 12.08.2010 at 18:03

[...]
As for the rest it seems that Australia doesn't differ much from the USA or Germany. Al Gore's wife has her krusade against Cannibal Corpse the same way our media is currently smashing Debauchery because their singer was an ethics teacher. Suddenly people cry for more background control for teachers and other nonsense. The public opinion is, that guy is sick and needs to be locked away...

[...]
I think Cannibal Corpse have hate groups wherever they go haha. They weren't allowed to tour here for some time I think. When they came the time before last there were protests from "angry mothers" and the like. Actually a comedy TV show called The Chaser's War On Everything did a rendition of a Cannibal Corpse song at the time [link]

What's wrong with being an ethics teacher btw?

Nothing. Unless you're the singer of a death band with gory themes and bloody shows. I can't provide you with any material in English but apparently the guy asked for some holiday to play a few concerts. Then his superiors looked up his band, found pictures of the band and decided to have him leave. Apparently, death metal themes and ethics don't play so nice together. The situation escalated when mothers of his students got wind of the affair and overreacted beyond imagination. As I said, next stop: Background checks for teachers. I mean, obviously he is a crazy madman, going around killing people and stuff.

Well that's just ridiculous. Fair enough if they found out later that he had a police record or something but surely what this guy does in his spare time is his business. Yeah I could see student's mothers doing that... You're right there, in fact all Death Metal artists are like that; they should all be disallowed from any other form of employment : I suppose if this guy was a rap artist he would have lost his job due to accusations of selling drugs or something...

The funny thing is there is a lot of bitching about the warning stickers (ours are unobtrusive and i am so used to seeing them they might as well be UPC codes...), but PMRC-like organizations aren't the only ones at fault here.

plenty of fucking labels do it to their own disks with flashy stickers advertising the very album you are holding. the cases to my Atheist re-issues are disfigured by the sort of sticker-advertising that could conceivably be placed on the plastic wrap that goes over the CD. the only time i ever took notice of one of those label-ads was for a Carpathian Forest release that actually quoted a MS review by guest-reviewer and recently more-active long time member, Prugor.

i thought that was cool, but the other 99 times out of 100 these flashy eye-catchers are just really eye-sores.

Yeah, now that you mention it. Actually I bought a CD the other day and nearly the whole entire cover was taken up by a sticker with tour dates on it. Thankfully it was on the plastic wrap on the outside and the CD was all nice and clean on the inside. I think this happens more with albums which have quite basic cover art.

I'll just keep sending those CDs back with a complaint. It may appear kinda childishly moping but I think if they don't want me buying their CDs, they shouldn't get it. The fact that these labels don't respond to email should say enough. Some guy on the shoutbox (can't give credit because I don't remember who it was) recently pointed me to play.com, who sell UK releases. I have had nothing but good experience with them so far. Let's hope it remains that way. At amazon Germany, it's close to impossible to find a CD without these stickers by now. Unless it's a really old one they had in storage.

I guess now that the legislation is in, you wouldn't be able to find any clean ones. Buying from the UK would be a bit expensive wouldn't it? Is it worth your while to buy from other country's Amazon stores? I guess then you have to worry about extra shipping charges.