The parental advisory logo is only for those worthy of it

Apple Music's guide to acceptable cover art is doing the rounds, mostly due to anxiety at how giant, prudish, polo-shirted tech companies have become the music industry's gatekeepers. While the ban on "pornographic" imagery is the obvious wrath locus, the ban on "brands" is a more interesting and insidious move. Some seemingly technical rules (e.g. "no barcodes") exclude famous covers, too, at least in principle—in the App Store, after all, policy enforcement is indifferent and capricious.

My favorite prohibition is this one, the very last in the list:

No parental advisory logo if the release is not explicit.

How perfect that pretending to be censored is itself censored!