Wal-Mart to lift ban on explicit CDs

Wal-Mart could soon end its ban of music titles that carry parental advisory stickers, according to major-label sources who told Billboard they've seen indications of a potential shift in policy for the retail giant.

Such a change would be motivated in large part by Wal-Mart's apparent desire to increase its appeal to a younger, urban audience.

Wal-Mart has taken numerous steps in that direction. Artists such as Ashanti, Destiny's Child and Jennifer Lopez are among those with branded perfumes available at the mass merchant. Additionally, the retailer started a major promotion last year with BET, in which DVDs carrying the black-oriented cable network's imprint are packaged with CDs from select artists. And this summer, Wal-Mart will roll out Exsto, an "urban sportswear" fashion line being overseen by Jeff Tweedy of rock band Wilco, a former partner in Sean "Diddy" Combs' Sean John clothing line.

"We are always pushing them to (carry) stickered (CDs), so it wouldn't surprise me if they are looking at (the possibility) again, especially now with the urban clothing lines they are doing," one label executive says.

However, the executive cautions, "It's certainly not imminent ... we haven't had any talks on it. When it gets to decision time, Wal-Mart is always concerned about the PR effect of such a change."

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Indeed, Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart is perhaps the most scrutinized U.S. retailer. As the last major holdout against selling stickered CDs, Wal-Mart surely is conscious of the flack that rival Kmart received from Christian groups such as the American Family Assn. when it allowed shoppers under 18 to purchase CDs with parental advisory warnings about explicit lyrics.