Dear Google.

       Where do we draw the line between "art" and "abuse" of a situation? This article is not here to determine the morality of the content itself, but rather the morality of permitting it in specific cases. I spend a lot of time on YouTube searching for different bands, but I actually find most of my music now by following the "daisy-chain" of links from video to video until I find something of interest. This can find me some pretty cool music I otherwise would never have known about, but it also shows me just how far out of reach we've become. More than once recently I've come across"music videos" where the videos themselves are plain and simple pornography or gore, and the music is clearly just there for background noise. This is unfortunately a powerful sales tactic because the video will bring out an emotional rise in the viewer that the song on it's own may not, especially if the song isn't very well written to begin with. What we are left with now is a moral issue, should this content even be allowed on such a public site? The bands will remain unnamed as I'd rather not send business their way now, but what surprised me even more than the content was in several cases posted on the VEVO page (You know, those people who wouldn't even post a version of a song on the site with mild swearing once upon a time). So not only is this content being put out by a major company, but it is being allowed by YouTube's parent company Google (acquired in 2006), who have had a rather questionable history with the way they display content if the money is good enough both here and abroad (For those not aware, Google was paid by the Chinese government to keep their country in the dark for many years). In this case, VEVO, which is owned by Sony Music, Universal Music and Abu Dhabi Media (oddly enough located in a country that doesn't even have access to VEVO) pays Google to allow their music videos to be displayed on the YouTube site, regardless of content. This IS their right as a company in a free market, BUT, consider that any other user on the site would have their video reported, removed, and possibly lose their account over the content permitted on VEVO's behalf. Whether or not you feel the content to be acceptable on it's own is irrelevant because I think most of us would agree we don't want our kids stumbling across it. It says a lot about a company that allows "adult" content to be thrown around their site by the select few for cash, and children aren't stupid, they can easily click the "yes I'm 18" button, because the internet doesn't really know if you are or aren't. For my part though, I don't feel it is right for ANY company to allow content they have personally deemed unacceptable to be used for a price. If you feel the need to watch that kind of thing, there are millions of other websites, this one should be left alone. And Google, whether you post it or simply allow someone else to, you're making yourself look cheap again.