Issues with iTunes

iTunes is one of the largest providers of digital media and has only been getting bigger. As of October 4th, iTunes sold it's 16 billionth song. This is obviously a place you would want to get your music on if you are an artist. For those that make or distribute white power music this is a place you must get your music onto if you want to reach as many people as possible in this day and age. However, that is the problem. White power music is distributed in mass amounts through iTunes. Other popular music sites they have not been as successful establishing a firm grasp in their market. On sites such as MySpace they have many civil rights groups putting pressure on them to take down hate filled music as soon as it is put on the site. A major group that is against the distribution of white power music on iTunes are those affiliated with change.org. They are among many that think of white power music being a recruitment tool to gain youth followers and see it as a large risk. This organization states, "such music should be relegated to the margins where it belongs, and not be given legitimacy through affiliation with a large network like iTunes. In the past, the company has taken steps to remove homophobic music that promotes violence towards sexual minorities. Tell Apple that just as it stood against hatred towards the LGBT community, the company must stand up against racism by banning white power music." There is a lot of talk about why there are measures taken about groups that are often marginalized like LGBT, but not when it comes to hateful music about race, class and gender. This is an example of a typical song you can find on iTunes..

Daniels declares, "White supremacy online is a global issue and creates new challenges for critical race theory--and specifically for the idea that words can wound (that is, that hate speech causes real harm in real life). Critical race theory places race in the center of the analysis with the stories of victims of hate speech as the starting point. Those who believe that speech can do lasting harm understand the urgency of addressing the problems posed by white supremacy online. We see free speech as a right of everyone and think of white nationalist groups as extreme as if they do no harm. People seem to forget hate speech causes real harm. Though with the amount of whites in positions of power in corporations (and I assume iTunes) they don't understand the full effect because they have never faced that "real harm." It's easy to make decisions about these people when you haven't experienced knowing someone that has been affected by hate speech or have been a victim yourself, because it doesn't harm you or people you know. Daniels also talks about a protocol that was designed to address online racism in other countries that the U.S. did not partake in. She says, "The protocol, signed by twelve member states, reflects a strong European stance against hate speech online and stands in stark contrast to the American view that white supremacist rhetoric ought to be protected as free speech. One legal scholar refers to these divergent reactions to white supremacy online as "the U.S.-Europe cyberhate divide." The cyberhate divide also means that the United States is the global destination of choice for those wishing to create and distribute white supremacy online without fear of prosecution. It is critically important that we consider white supremacy online in a global context and understood how the United States' position on "protected speech" undermines global efforts to combat this insidious racism." This is an unfortunate thing for a country that prides itself on being diverse, accepting and being this great place to live, but our hidden values portray a much different reality.

On the other hand, white nationalists or others that want iTunes to sell this music think that it is a right of free speech. They feel like they have the right to distribute music and to tell their "side of the story" that they have not been able to say freely in the past. They use this as yet another way that whites are victimized.

We will see what happens in the future with white nationalist music distribution on iTunes. But, in their defense companies can choose whether or not they want to support the content they distribute. Myspace made it clear that this type of music does not portray the values their company has and iTunes has not yet taken a stance.