Most of you probably aren’t too familiar with murder music.  It’s a form of dancehall that’s been growing steadily more popular, but with some seriously violent and ridiculous undertones.

There appears to be a particular focus on gay-bashing )at least in the songs in question), even from quasi-established artists like Elephant Man.

So, EGALE, in conjunction with a group called Stop Murder Music Canada, petitioned iTunes Canada to stop the distribution of three songs they said advoccated violence against gays.  iTunes responded, removing the three songs and apparently even removing at least one of the albums that contained the songs.

It’s a pretty impressive move, though it has raised some controversy.  While no one seems to support the idea behind the songs, people are worried about censoring artists and the whole slippery slope this goes down.  Just because one group is offended by someone’s music, should iTunes pull it?

Frankly, the answer is probably not.  For the most part I think that retailers should stay out of it, but if someone is advocating actual physical violence, and it seems to materialize, then maybe it makes sense.  What do you all think?

[Source: Xtra]