Billboard is reporting that the RIAA now intends to request that online music companies implement "effective parental-control filters to provide parents more information and control over what their children can download"(RIAA Pushing Advisory Warnings On Downloads). The announcement came at a FTC workshop dealing with the marketing of violent entertainment to children (Marketing Violent Entertainment To Children: A Workshop on Industry Self-Regulation).

Considering that the RIAA strongly resisted implementing any rating and labeling standards until essentially forced to by congressional scrutiny in the late 1980s, it therefore seems odd that the RIAA would now be recommending filtering. Indeed, of all the rating systems, the RIAA's is the most granular - a recording either has a parental advisory or it does not (Information for Parents - Parental Advisory).

So why now the push for filtering, which the RIAA of 20 years ago most likely would have strongly opposed? The answer is obvious - as a way to attack P2P. Note The answer is in the article:

[RIAA chairman/CEO Mitch] Bainwol said the RIAA's guidelines "will reinforce the importance of consistent descriptors across all services" and should "help parents draw a distinction between the pirate peer-to-peer networks and legitimate online music services. [emphasis added]"

In other words, the RIAA is hoping that, since unlicensed P2P systems are unlikely to have effective rating and filtering systems, parents will turn to licensed systems for music downloads and prevent their children from using unlicensed P2P networks.

I haven't been able to find the new standards for rating and filtering online yet, but it will be interesting to take a look at them.