No need for parental warnings at SongTouch

Imagine rap lyrics without the F-bomb.

Or acid rock lyrics without sex.

Or reggae lyrics without drugs.

Howard Rachinski imagined it all last year, when his then-10-year-old son began to get interested in music.

Although Apple’s iTunes and other commercial music-download sites offered plenty of Christian and other inoffensive songs and albums, Rachinski wanted something that catered exclusively to religious people like himself and his family.

So he and his colleagues created Portland-based SongTouch, an online music store much like iTunes – but without a single “Parental Advisory” label among its 220,000 religious, inspirational and classical titles.

“I have no personal animosity against Eminem or Madonna,” the 55-year-old Rachinski says, “but some people want a safe place to go.”

SongTouch (www.songtouch.com) offers 27 musical genres, from Americana to Southern gospel, plus spoken-word performances. There’s also news and features about artists, a monthly video show on Christian entertainers, upcoming music releases and customer polls.

A feature called Showcase lets SongTouch users list their recommendations, along with their comments.

SongTouch already is drawing attention in the entertainment world. The Web site is the only online Christian store that Microsoft has built into its system of exclusive partner stores in Windows Media Player 10.

Grammy winner Amy Grant, one of Christian music’s top stars, sent word through her agent that she wants to record spots advertising the site. Point of Grace, a Grammy-nominated Christian singing group, asked SongTouch to feature its music video.

SongTouch, which is affiliated with Christian Copyright Licensing, will be offered as a service to churches that want to use SongTouch’s technology to sell music, including their own labels, on their Web sites.

Christian music accounts for about 6 percent to 7 percent of all music downloads now, Rachinski says, but he expects the category to grow exponentially.