Dejan Lazić’s demand for “right to be forgotten” results in international media attention.

Any professional musician knows that having their performances reviewed by the press is a necessary evil. A positive critique can work wonders for a musician’s reputation, but equally a bad review can be a devastating blow. In years gone by, anyone suffering a bad review could console themselves with the knowledge that today’s newspapers were tomorrow’s chip wrappers. However in the current age of the digital revolution, reviews published online can remain in the public eye in perpetuity.

Very little could be done about negative publicity lingering in cyberspace, until in May this year a new European Union ruling, named the “right to be forgotten” came into effect. This new legislation is intended to prevent individuals who have suffered unfavourable press online being “perpetually or periodically stigmatised”, but the idea of using this new legal power to expunge a bad performance review has only just surfaced.

Croatian pianist Dejan Lazić contacted the Washington Post to request a 2010 review by the newspaper’s music critic Anne Midgette be removed from its website claiming the review, which praised Lazć’s technical prowess but criticised his ineloquent choice of repertoire...