September 19, 2011
iTunes labels Jewish music as ‘Christian & Gospel’
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Apple’s iTunes has labeled some of the most well-known Jewish and Hasidic singers in the online music store “Christian & Gospel” section.
The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that musicians such as Avraham Fried, an Orthodox Jew; Mordechai Ben-David; and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach all have some album’s categorized in iTunes’ “Christian & Gospel” genre section.
Fried’s “Yiddish Gems Volumes 1 & 2,” “My Fellow Jew” and “The Baal Shem Tov’s Songs”; Ben-David’s “Just One Shabbos” and “Yerushalayim Our Home”; and Carlebach’s “Shaarei Shabbat-Songs and Blessings For Your Jewish Home”—all fit into Christian categories.
Some albums by the artists, however, were filed under “Singer/Song Writer” and “World.”
“Why would they put Jewish and Chasidic music under the ‘Christian and Gospel’ category? It makes no sense,” Fried told the Post.
“I don’t understand where they are coming from and what the point is of doing this,” he said. “I would hate to think this is an attempt to bury Jewish music under a Christian or Gospel label.”
Fried told the Post that iTunes should create a Jewish Music section.
Apple’s iTunes is the largest online music vendor in the world, with 10 billion songs purchased between 2003 and February 2010. According to the Jewish Chronicle, Windows Media Player also does not have a Jewish music section.
JTA’s requests for comment by Apple went unanswered.
