Racist Music Finds Home Online

White-power albums readily available on iTunes, Amazon, to bands' delight
By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 25, 2008 1:16 PM CST

Online outlets are making it much easier for musical acts with unpopular messages to get their material heard, Spin reports. “Because stores wouldn’t carry us, selling records used to be laborious,” says the lead singer of white-power act Brutal Attack, citing boycotts from anti-racist groups. The band and legal analysts say free speech prevails, but activists are upset.

“Companies could choose not to sell this stuff,” says a rep for activist group Turn It Down. “Instead, they hide behind the First Amendment. Refusing to make money from racism isn't censorship; it’s the right thing.” Amazon and iTunes both stock music from Brutal Attack and similar artists. Amazon, says a spokeswoman, “doesn’t feel it should be deciding what’s right for consumers. That's a slippery slope we don’t want to be on.”
(More white supremacism stories.)

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