Do you Think Music Videos Should be Censored?

Censorship of music is put in place to restrict free access to music videos. It is in charge for the removal of content when a music video appears in a particular context that may be seen as offensive in any way.  A prime example of censorship is a radio edit; cropping out profanities and replacing it with a beat, therefore allowing the song to be player whenever and whenever. Some record labels often make two versions of a song, replacing profanities for other, more suitable words in order to prevent the song losing original meaning, as well as complying with set rules put in place by various radio and television programmes.

Ofcom is a communications regulator that manages TV and radio sectors as well as many others. They make sure that people are satisfied in the UK with communications services, including being protected from scam artists, their privacy being invaded, as well as being treated unfairly in tv/ radio programmes. Ofcom operates under the laws of the Communication Act 2003 being a detailed act of parliament, which set in more technical aspects of regulation in order to follow the laws. These rules and regulations are set and have to be followed, specifically in order to look after the interests of their mass target audience.

Within the topic of censorship my class and I discovered there was a lot of controversy in whether music videos should be censored or not. In order to have a greater understanding of personal thoughts and opinions my class held a debate; each student playing an individual role, consisting of the artist, fans, record labels and parents.

The debate was held around the artist Eminem, the type of music he produces and how he performs his stories to an audience. As a result of carrying out this debate, it will allow me to see both for and against opinions that my class has. The feedback and overall feelings played by students consisted of:

• Artist: 

“I believe my music videos should not be censored as it informs people of my life experiences through entertainment, portraying my mistakes through life, something that everyone can relate to; for example about the emotional roller-coaster an addiction can take you on, such as alcohol or drugs.”

• Fans:

“Eminem’s music videos should not be censored as it represents life situations and educates; warning his audience to not go down the same path that he drifted into in life, for example using domestic violence as a way of releasing anger shown in ‘Love the Way you Lie’. His songs are also a way of Eminem conveying that he’s understood in the public eye and in videos such as ‘Like Toy Soldiers’ he explains that he means no harm on anyone.”

• Record label:

“The fact that Eminem has become so successful through selling millions of albums E.G. 10 million sold on the album Marshal Mathas, as well as winning countless awards proves that even though the language may be strong and violent at times, people relate to his lyrics as they are so meaningful.”

• Parents for:

“Ultimately as a parent, I feel that it is up to us parents to educate our children, teaching them right from wrong, no blame should be directed to artists themselves for a child’s actions. Children should be taught that the actions shown in for example ‘Space Bound’ are wrong and are not to be repeated which is backed up by the fact that the video then rewinds, going back in time and erasing Eminem’s poor decisions.”

• Parents against:

“The explicit language used in for example ‘The Real Slim Shady’ can offend many people. As a parent I feel that my child can easily adopt his attitude, affects their choices in life due to his heavy influence.”

• Kiss 100:

“As a company we are limited as we are currently unable to play uncensored songs before 9, we follow this regulation as we wish not to offend any of our target audience, which may result in damaging our reputation, something that we are unwilling to risk. However sometimes the music is overly censored which may damage the original meaning of a song.”

• MTV:

“We support censorship as we have the same intensions as Kiss 100, we preferably don’t want to risk the loss of any of our mass target audience, or to put any strain on our reputation, as a result reducing the amount of complaints needing to be dealt with.”

• AKA:

“We however disagree with censorship, as a company we prefer to truly represent the artist without cutting bits out of their story, it takes away meaning and we feel it can potentially ruin a song.”

In my opinion, although I am very aware of the large proportion of the song including strong and violent language, I myself have grown up listening to Eminem. I feel that people exaggerate when directing blame to artists of their child for example committing crime and adopting his language, however most of the people I know and myself personally have never taken on either which really proves its up to the parents to teach them morals in life, any human being makes their own decisions in life and it is up to surrounding friends and family to stop it if it occurs. I think in many ways Eminem is inspirational and a lot of his songs emotionally touch me, as they are made personal and I feel can really teach people many life lessons on what to avoid in life and to learn from mistakes.

A prime example of an artist’s music video that has been censored and critized for their exquisite and what was described as an aggressive music video was “Born Free” recorded by the M.I.A. It was commended for the lyrics, however the video involved murdering red haired people. The particular themes the 9 minute video included and the way in which it was shot including the military force, brutality and violence caused worldwide controversy which lead to a ban on YouTube in the UK and US, however in 2011 made the ‘100 Top Greatest Music Videos Ever Made’ at number 13 and became number 2 on TIME’s list of the ‘Top 10 Controversial Music Videos’. Due to the controversy Ofcom became involved as the video was seen as offensive, therefore taking away the free access of the video itself from potential viewers.

Katy Perry’s music video ‘Firework’ is another example where censorship came into action. The clip consists of many features that by a common audience would find strange and provocative, for example 2 men kissing publically, fireworks coming out of Katy Perry’s chest. Due to this an edit of the promo has been released pixilating out scenes after being censored for British television; however the official clip can still be viewed, but under private viewing only, therefore taking away the free access to most viewers. Ofcom deal with the reaction to when videos are first released and if needed to be dealt with due to unhappy viewers then they will do so to correct the issue.

An artist like Rhianna however is constantly having her music videos censored, due to minimal clothing and some of her lyrics being inappropriate, especially for younger viewers. ‘S&M’ provoked censorship to the point where the promo was banned in 11 countries and was removed from the UK’s BBC Daytime radio playlist, due to suggestive lyrics E.G. being covered in latex as well as sucking a banana which then implicated that it had to have an age restriction on YouTube. The song was not to be played at any time before 7pm. ‘We Found Love’ was another that has been banned in certain countries; this is as a result of depictions of sex, drugs and violence which is a clear violation of the laws of the Communication Act 2003 that Ofcom follow, resulting in changes having to be made.

In terms on whether I agree with censorship or not, my views remain mixed, however I do feel I have more to say against censorship in comparison to for it. I feel that children of today are brighter and tend to be more street smart; they are surrounded by strong, violent and inappropriate language from a very young age through the school environment in particular, so I feel that some censorship to artists music videos are unnecessary and can be avoided, however I feel there has to be a line drawn to excessiveness in these areas.