a different kind of censorship

I don't work in the music industry, but I know a few people who do. There's a fairly well known artist who I got on e-mail list for a while back. Since going solo, his work has become more original and thought-provoking and less like the typical Top 20 CCM countdown material. Apparently, his record label doesn't like a song he wants to put on his album and is delaying the release.

I don't know the content of the song, but the e-mail I received got me thinking. Do record-label contracts really give them the right to completely deny an artist's choice of sharing his work with his listeners? Do they care about artistic integrity and spreading worthwhile messages from the hearts of the people they have selected to represent them, or do they manipulate those artists into fitting into a mold of some type, eventually destroying their unique identity and work, or at least damaging it?

Then again, for all I know maybe the content is shocking enough that I would think twice about buying the album... I am only speculating and don't know both sides of the story. But how much sugar-coating of the gospel do we really need in our music/art? When the message becomes a little messy or controversial, do we hide it in order to protect the sterile holiness that forgets what we are saved from by Christ's blood and resurrection? Is the motive behind the labels' discretion that of maintaining their own sense of "integrity" or the bottom line in the account?

Christians are quick to condemn the mainstream media for censoring viewpoints, but it also seems that censorship is present if not prevalent among the "Christian" media industry.
So much for authenticity....