The popular German metal band Rammstein has filed a lawsuit against Germany after their 2009 album “Liebe ist für alle da” was placed on an index of works deemed harmful to youth for six months after it was released, and the group is seeking 66,000 euros ($75,000) in damages as a result.
This index, regulated by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons, originally decided that the album’s artwork and one of the songs, “Ich tu dir weh”, was immoral and brutalizing, which meant Rammstein could no longer advertise the album and could only sell it under limiting circumstances.
While the Administrative Court in Cologne later reversed the decision to index the album, under the belief that the band’s artistic freedom was neglected as it is a trademark style of the band, Rammstein claims that in that brief six months, they had to pull close to 85,000 albums from sale.
A German court will hear the case this summer.
Source: DW
