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Topic: Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs? (Read 14125 times) previous topic - next topic
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Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

This is something that keeps bugging me when I look for new CDs. There are those I just KNOW are going to be edited before Walmart will sell them (Eminem, most rap, etc.). And I've seen EDITED clearly displayed on plastic sealer atop the disc when I most expect it. But then there are new artists I'm not familiar with, and I usually won't buy their discs from Walmart, because I don't know for sure if they have been edited or not.

My question is, does anyone here know for certain if Walmart identifies EVERY edited disc they sell, or just the ones they think parents  and religious fanatics will be most worried about?

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #1 –
Good music is pretty rare at walmart so I'm not really worried about it haha. But I do believe that they should at least label edited CDs for convenience.

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #2 –
I don't think they identify every edited CD they are selling.  They do for the "big names" such as Eminem but I didn't see an "edited" label on Korn's last album whenever I was at Walmart a few days ago.  Either way, you will want to go online and obtain more information about a particular album release before buying it from Walmart.  They suckered me into buying an edited CD 6 years ago and I have swore off ever buying music from them again.

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #3 –
Walmart... yuk! Some 5 Years ago they tried to enter the German market and opened up quite a few chain stores. They made a fatal mistake, however, by running the same business model as in the USA, without taking account of the cultural differences in Europe. Inevitably, people where alienated by the daft and obstrusive kind of "customer service" that was imposed upon them. People who just wanted to shop conveniently had the impression of beeing harrased by some kind of corporate sect. There was some media coverage on this "clash of cultures" at that time. Well, Walmart obviously lost it and had to close all of their chain stores after three years and major losses

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #4 –
Not to continue to go off-topic but those "major losses" were just a drop in the bucket.  The company would not have risked the overall investment of moving overseas if they didn't have money to gamble.  It might sound like a lot whenever a company such as Walmart, Microsoft, Dell, HP, etc. lose $50 million but, in all honesty, it is really nothing for them.  The CEO of Walmart certainly didn't feel any pinch and I am sure the Ferrari that his eldest daughter drives still functions normally.

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #5 –
Well, the losses were large enough for them to completely withdraw from Germany. It's pretty self-evidend that they must have been small in relation to the concerns overall capital. Apart from that I'd consider it as one of the most malign evils of capitalism, that the management of a concern isn't personally responsible for the outcome of its work. It's quite sad and absurd that we live in a world where bank managers who ruin their institution and drive thousands of people into poverty get millions of compensation when they are finally fired, instead of beeing hold to account financially. So I'm quite sure the CEO's doughter will keep her Ferrari regardless of what will become of the company.

Ok, that's certainly enough off-topic rant now

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Northpack on
Well, the losses were large enough for them to completely withdraw from Germany. It's pretty self-evidend that they must have been small in relation to the concerns overall capital. Apart from that I'd consider it as one of the most malign evils of capitalism, that the management of a concern isn't personally responsible for the outcome of its work. It's quite sad and absurd that we live in a world where bank managers who ruin their institution and drive thousands of people into poverty get millions of compensation when they are finally fired, instead of beeing hold to account financially. So I'm quite sure the CEO's doughter will keep her Ferrari regardless of what will become of the company.

Ok, that's certainly enough off-topic rant now

Hey did anyone answer the original posters question ????
Does or does not Wallmart mark EVERY CD they edit...I usually don't buy ..no.. never buy my music for Wallmart and would never buy an edited CD
Just wondering if they are being fair or misleading..I can't believe that in the 21st Century there are people who still edit art....Not that I considered Eminemin ART

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #7 –
Apparently, they don't. kornchild2002 said he got a Korn disc that was edited, but not labeled as such. That's exactly what I'm afraid of. If its a new artist I'm unfamiliar with, I wouldn't know if their discs would need to be censored or not. Like you all, I'd be ticked to find a disc I bought was censored--I'm strongly against that sort of thing.

I can stick to "safe" acts like the Eagles, Stones, and Zeppelin, but how often do they put out anything new?

I wonder if Walmart execs realize they lose sales because people don't know which discs are censored?

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #8 –
Quote from: teh roxxors on
Apparently, they don't. kornchild2002 said he got a Korn disc that was edited, but not labeled as such. That's exactly what I'm afraid of. If its a new artist I'm unfamiliar with, I wouldn't know if their discs would need to be censored or not. Like you all, I'd be ticked to find a disc I bought was censored--I'm strongly against that sort of thing.

I've never bought music at Walmart, but if the label just says "edited" that isn't very informative.  Aren't ALL albums edited except for direct-to-master recordings?  Maybe it should say "Naughty bits removed!"

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #9 –
Wal-Mart does not edit CDs, they only receive music with the "appropriate" content (otherwise they wouldn't sell it). That is, this edition (edited or not) is something the record company produces, just like another different edition.

If Korn and their record company releases two seemingly identical CDs with different content, well, then Wal-Mart will wash their hands of it.
If Korn and their record company chooses to warn users that they have complied with some censorist corporation and released an inferior product, then fine (although Wal-Mart would maybe not want to sell it if labeled as "inferior crippled version, do not pay more than half price").

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #10 –
Not trying to make this a moral or philosophical debate on censorship.

We know Walmart doesn't edit the discs themselves, and that's not relevant to the discussion.

Just need to know if Walmart identifies ALL content-edited music, or just the stuff parents may worry most about. That's all.

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #11 –
Well, apparently not according to sources -- check out http://www.cexx.org/snicker/complaint.htm

My point was: if a record company supplies Wal-Mart with a CD with "non-objectionable" content, why should Wal-Mart care whether (1) there is another edition in the record stores, and (2) they look different? If the artist (OK, the MAFIAA-card-carrying record company ...) doesn't even think that this editing is significant enough to warn his/her fans, why should Wal-Mart beg to differ?

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #12 –
Excuse me, would someone explain to the non-usa member here what do you mean by "edited"? Does Walmart sells only "clean" versions of the albums?
I really don't understand what it is all about, as I've seen "clean" and "normal" versions of some albums almost everywhere.
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Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #13 –
I presume that the OP is referring to albums where swear words have been either covered with a masking sound or somehow cunningly edited out. Although it makes an album safer to leave running in polite company, I prefer extended albums that include both an edited version (often referred to as the "radio edit") and an unedited version to give me the choice of either hearing it how the artist intended it to be, or listening to it in front of my elderly parents.

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #14 –
Wal-Mart may not have an "EDITED" tag for even some of the popular groups.

For example, an older compilation double album from the German rock group Scorpions, is available in two versions from the manufacturer.

It is "Deadly Sting: The Mercury Years".  Two CDs, containing a total of 33 songs.

There's the clean version, and the explicit version.

The explicit version has a nude woman on the CD cover, sitting, with a bunch of scorpions around her.  All songs have the full, original lyrics.

In the clean version, the woman is missing on the cover, but everything else is the same.  Also, any songs that have profanity have been edited so that those words are removed.


I've only ever seen Wal-Mart sell the clean version.  To find the explicit version, I've had to go an actual music store, or online at Amazon.COM or CDUniverse.

In this clean version sold at Wal-Mart, there is no "EDITED" tag or anything else to denote it being different from the Explicit version.

I ended up buying both versions.  I originally bought the clean version at Wal-Mart without knowing there was an Explicit version.  After I found out a month later, I bought the Explicit version and gave the clean version to a friend.




Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #15 –
I can say definitely that I have purchased a CD at WalMart that was edited and not marked so. (Usually it will say this on the barcode sticker.) I later found the CD in another store bearing the "Parental Advisory -- Explicit Lyrics" thing on the CD booklet's front cover. (The WalMart SKUed version had no such sticker.)

The moral of the story, for me I guess, is to NEVER buy a CD from WalMart unless I've done my homework first ...and if I'd done my "homework" first, I'd have inherently given myself the opportunity to purchase the uncensored version elsewhere.
The Loudness War is over. Now it's a hopeless occupation.

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #16 –
Quote from: Slipstreem on
I presume that the OP is referring to albums where swear words have been either covered with a masking sound or somehow cunningly edited out.
You mean deleted from the vocal track?

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #17 –
Quote from: dv1989 on
You mean deleted from the vocal track?

If the original multi-track studio recording was available at the time of censorship, yes. I guess it will be most of the time nowadays, but that's not always been the case. You young'uns have no idea how lucky you are!

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #18 –
Quote from: teh roxxors on
Apparently, they don't. kornchild2002 said he got a Korn disc that was edited, but not labeled as such.


Actually, I never said I picked up the CD at Walmart.  I would never buy a CD at Walmart to begin with let alone one from my favorite band who releases constant albums with PA stickers on them.  I said I saw their latest release at Walmart and it didn't say "Edited" on it.  That lead me to believe that they don't always identify which albums have edited lyrical and which ones don't.  Others have since confirmed that.

As for the business that they lose by selling albums that fit under the RIAA (or whoever, I don't know or don't care) standard of not needing a PA sticker, they make up for that by the amount of CDs that they sell to everyone else.  The last time I looked at the charts, Walmart was the number 2 "music store" in the U.S. right behind Apple and ahead of Best Buy and Amazon.  There are many reasons for this stemming back to the locations of Walmart stores across the U.S., their general family friendly image (which is hypocritical as they can sell beer, hard liquor, MA games, and R rated movies yet they won't sell a CD where the sings says a "bad" word?), their prices, and their general consumer audience.  Also think of it this way: there is a Midwestern mom in the U.S. whose 12 year old says he wants the new Papa Roach album.  Is the mom going to buy an album from a band with such a "disgusting" name with a parental advisory sticker (which would likely be more work) or is she just going to spend the $10 at Walmart knowing that he won't be hearing any language that would cause him to grow up becoming the next Charles Manson?

Either way, it is clear that Walmart doesn't always mark their CDs as being edited and they aren't going to sell PA releases anytime soon.  They made a lot of hoopla over that back in the day when Tipper Gore and co. came up with the PA sticker idea.  That was over 20 years ago and their CD sales show no sing of really slowing down so they have no reason not to continue their current practice.

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #19 –
Well, Walmart does blow a lot of goats. Yes, that's true. It really is.

Obviously, then, my question is answered. They don't identify all edited content. You can be "tricked" into buying the "clean" version of a recording without ever realizing it. That sucks. Walmart sucks. But then they are the closest thing to home, and I can still buy music from acts I'm familiar with and not be disappointed.

It should be law that edited material is identified as such.

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #20 –
Quote from: teh roxxors on
It should be law that edited material is identified as such.


I absolutely agree. And I do believe the answer is "yes" to WalMart not properly identifying all edited CDs.

It SHOULD be the law to identify edited CDs. If they make a law protecting a subset of the population (kids or whoever else doesn't want to hear it) from adult language, than adults should have the right to make informed choices as consumers as well. The censorship supposedly doesn't exist for adults.

(I don't see it ever happening. The US, like many other western nations, has a long history of giving more rights to those they feel more "deserving" of them while ignoring others. It just depends on what's "PC" at that particular moment.)
The Loudness War is over. Now it's a hopeless occupation.

Does Walmart have to identify edited CDs?

Reply #21 –
Bigotry, hypocrisy and double standards are IMHO best left out of legal regulation (despite how tempting it might be).

What if a band releases -- hmmm, let's stick to Windows XP terminology -- an album in "Home" and "Pro" version, is it clear which one is the altered one and should be marked as such? What if the uncensored version is just labeled "Special edition"? There are already a fair deal of special iTunes editions out (although those are e.g. extra tracks, which is substantially totally different). It is fairly common in the movie world to edit in order to fit each market's age ratings.


Of course, if parts are beeped out, I'd be just as pissed off as if I mail-ordered a reproduction of Paul Jennewein's "Spirit of Justice" and got a version with a breast cut away (Ashcroft style):
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/valentine.asp