UPDATE: ROSEN, GOLDBERG JOIN ZELNICK IN DC

While the film industry may have coincidentally chosen to travel during the Senate's hearing on violent entertainment's effect on the American youth, the music industry was represented by three of its most politically active and well-spoken members.

Joining BMG Entertainment President/CEO Strauss Zelnick, whose thought-out and personal testimony was one of the highlights of Wednesday's (9/13) hearings, were such industry vets as RIAA chief Hilary Rosen and Artemis honcho Danny Goldberg.

Even so, U.S. Sen. John McCain used the forum to blast the entertainment industry for marketing adult-rated movies and selling lyrically explicit CDs to children, and for some who neglected to appear before the committee. "There will be much said today, but thundering silence will be heard from motion picture executives. By some uncanny coincidence, every single executive was either out of the country or unavailable," said McCain, while cartoonish puffs of steam came out from under his collar. "I can only conclude the industry was too ashamed of or unable to defend its marketing practice."

Lashing out at the absent movie execs, McCain opened the Senate Commerce Committee hearings by calling many of them out by name. His list included Time Warner's Gerald Levin, News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, Disney's Michael Eisner, Seagram's Edgar Bronfman Jr., DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg and Miramax's Harvey Weinstein (hitsdailydouble.com, 9/13).

An adamant, impassioned and present Rosen, the President/CEO of the RIAA who has been dealing with such proceedings for about 15 years, defended the music industry's concerns about lyrics that some find objectionable and its attempts to label those recordings. Citing songs by such less-threatening artists as Dixie Chicks and Steve Earle, the well-prepared Rosen presented charts and graphics depicting sales patterns and trends in defense of her industry's initiatives that already address these concerns.

"The committee is concerned about violent and sexual lyrics," Rosen said, "As a parent, so am I. But I want to apply my own values—the needs of my individual children—to decide what sources of entertainment are appropriate for them. If we attempt to apply any other standard, no bonfire will be tall enough to burn the centuries of art that will have to go up in flames."

Artemis Records' Goldberg, who has been president of three major record companies, was vocal and aggressive in presenting his concerns as a parent and record executive. Focusing on attempts to "categorize and label groups of words," the former head of Atlantic, Warner Bros. and Mercury said, "There is no ratings system for books, or for that matter congressional testimony… with one narrow exception, it is virtually impossible to ‘rate' words.

"I am speaking not only as a longtime record executive, but also as a father of a 10-year-old girl and a 6 -year-old boy," he said. "I do not believe either government or any entertainment industry committee has any business in telling me and my wife what entertainment our children should be exposed to."

Goldberg, who also affirmed the use of the existing "Parental Advisory" stickers, offered examples of how lyrics can be interpreted in different ways. "For example, on the subject of violence, what kind of system can distinguish between the words ‘I want to kill you' said in an affectionate, sarcastic or ironic way from those same words being used literally?" he asked. "Song lyrics are by their nature impressionistic and are often used symbolically. No one really thought that the words to ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song' referred to murder.

"The parental advisory sticker informs retailers and parents that [curse] words are on [an] album," he added. "Other than that, there is no universal criteria for categorizing words in lyrics, books, magazines, newspapers, etc. There are, of course, subjective criteria. It is the function of critics to criticize, of preachers to preach and of people like myself to exercise personal moral judgments about what my company releases… In an Internet world, there will be ever increasing ways for parents to find like-minded groups who can advise them on entertainment through the prism of their own particular values. However, so-called self-regulation achieved by political intimidation is the equivalent of censorship."

"As the CEO of BMG," Zelnick said. "I am ultimately responsible for what my company produces. I stand by our art, just as I stand by our sense of taste and restraint. We are not always successful in the regard. We've made mistakes. But with the freedom to choose comes the accountability for our choices – both the good ones and the bad ones." [For more from Zelnick see hitsdailydouble.com, 9/13.]

Meanwhile, FTC Commissioner Robert Pitofsky summarized Wednesday the FTC report that kicked off the hearings. Pitofsky accused the entertainment industry of counteracting its own "self-regulatory" ratings systems with marketing and advertising aimed at children. Said Pitofsky, "The commission believes that these advertising and marketing efforts undermine each industry's parental advisories and frustrate parents' attempts to protect their children from inappropriate material."

Also lending their voices to the anti-Hollywood screed were Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman and Lynne Cheney, wife of Lieberman's Republican counterpart and the former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"Rather than helping to shoulder the growing burden on parents, the entertainment industry too often has chosen to go behind their backs, targeting the sale of violent, adult-rated products directly to children," Lieberman said.

After Wednesday's hearings and McCain's finger-pointing, many in the film community are expected to attend the next go-round in two weeks as Warner's Alan Horn, Sony's Mel Harris and execs from Fox, DreamWorks, Paramount and Disney will probably attend.