China bans "insulting" music in its karaoke bars

China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has banned any music that breaches a fresh set of government rules from being played within the country’s near-50,000 karaoke venues. Among other rules, tracks deemed “contrary to public morality”, and/or content “that which insults or defames others” will be banned from October 1. The new set of rules are most likely to target domestic Chinese music and, in particular, Chinese hip-hop, Music Business Worldwide suggests.