But parents need help in the 21st century to understand what exactly is contained in the movies their kids watch, the music they listen to, and the video games they play. Gone are the days when there was one family phonograph player in the living room. Today kids listen to music over personal headsets that do not allow parents to monitor what is going directly into their children's ears and heads.

I commend the efforts taken by the motion picture industry and the video games industry to give parents additional information and guidelines to better understand what is contained within a particular video game or movie. I particularly appreciate the efforts of the video game industry that six years ago took the initiative to institute an Entertainment Software Rating Board for its relatively new industry that many parents knew little about. This board provides a rating to each video game based on age appropriateness as well clear information about the content that influenced that rating, such as violence, strong language or suggestive themes. I encourage the video game industry to continue to educate consumers about these ratings to retailers and consumers who may not yet be familiar with the relatively new system.

The motion picture industry has made great efforts to supplement their traditional system.the one most folks have relied upon for decades.with descriptions about why R rated movies may be inappropriate for children under 17 not accompanied by a parent. Similarly, the video game industry has developed its own new age based system that also describes why a particular game may earn a M: for mature rating.

As for the recording industry - I call upon you to get "in sync" with your industry counterparts to help educate consumers about the material that your members themselves deem to be "explicit." I hope that you will recognize opportunities to improve your industry efforts to help parents better understand your products. I would like you to seriously readdress whether or not the current one size fits all labeling system for music could be expanded to provide additional information about the content consumers can expect to hear. When 15 of Billboard's current top 50 albums -- that's 30 percent of the most popular albums today -- receive parental advisory warnings, I believe the industry has a responsibility to let consumers know why.

I do agree with the RIAA that the informational systems regarding content should be tailored to the specific medium that they rate. Unlike an explicit video scene in a movie or video game, a single song can mean many different things to many different people. However, as technological advances allow artists to include simulated real life sounds, such as mutilating another human being, into their work, there is less room for individual interpretation of a musical piece. Yes - Lyrics alone are indeed susceptible to varying interpretations, however, the sound of slicing a human being's throat while shouting the word "bleed," arguably leaves less to the imagination.

This Committee is well aware of the First Amendment implications of government regulation of artistic material. But there is legislation currently before the Energy and Commerce Committee that would enable the government to enforce policies against marketing and selling this material to minors, and we need to think about it very carefully. I hope that we can use this opportunity today to learn more about what industry is doing on their own to address this problem to avoid the need for Congress to step in and take action.

Finally, I want to apologize to all the Members of the Committee for the inconvenience regarding late testimony. The last time I reviewed the Committee instructions that are sent out to witnesses, they seemed to clearly lay out the directions for when and how to submit testimony. These rules exist in order to allow staff and Members time to review testimony in advance and have the most productive hearing possible. I hope that in the future all witnesses will respect this Committee process.

Once again, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this important hearing, and I look forward to asking our witnesses some questions.