China to make blacklist of karaoke songs with 'illegal content', ban them from October 1

In a move to restrict the spread of harmful information in public entertainment venues, China will consult experts and make a blacklist of karaoke songs to ban those containing “illegal content”, Chinese state media Global times reports citing the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's announcement on August 10. Reportedly, the list aligns with the country’s new regulation issued by the Chinese Culture ministry on July 26, which will come into effect on October 1. The Xi Jinping-led Communist government has said that the latest decision on karaoke songs came after certain pieces already banned in the country since 2006 were still repeatedly used in playlists in many venues. 

The Ministry reportedly said that China has over 100,000 songs in the basic music library accessible to nearly 50,000 singing and entertaining venues that poses a challenge for the government to supervise the violations. The group of experts for blacklisting Karaoke songs will be reportedly based on china’s regulations on entertainment venues management issued in 2006. 

The panel would decide which songs will be included on the list for having content that instils hatred and discrimination and involves using drugs and violence. Reportedly, the Ministry has stated that the self-serviced small karaoke booths prevailing in the malls of the country are also included under the regulation. The Ministry said that it had encouraged the content providers to supply “healthy and uplifting” music to such venues. 

China strictly regulates and curbing content like violence, pornography, or politically sensitive commentary from social media and its websites. In recent months, as per reports, the Communist government had published live streaming to video platforms for hosting content it considers “low taste.”

In July, the South China Morning Post reported that the Chinese government had proposed banning some songs from karaoke venues. It had noted that even though the proposal did not mention any specific songs by name, the songs banned in the past were seen promoting poor social behaviour. These songs reportedly included, I love Taiwanese Girls, Fart, Beijing Hooligans and Don’t Want to Go to School.

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