Research into music censorship

Do you think music videos should be censored?

Censorship Law/ Ofcom

Censorship is the suppression of speech and public communication in a variety of different contexts such as books, music, films, the press, radio, television etc that may be considered to be harmful or sensitive. A variety of methods are used in channels such as MTV or AKA in order to solve this for example:

·        Blanking- this is where the volume is silenced to mute the offensive word.

·        Repeating the word said before the offensive word

·        Skipping the offensive word without time delay

The government control this through private organizations that self-censorship. An example of this is Ofcom. Ofcom stands for the Office of Communications which, is a government-approved regulatory and competition authority in communication services such as television, radio, magazines, newspapers etc. They were established in 2002, however in 2003 they received full authority from the communications act. They have a wide range of control across these regions that allows them to protect the audience from anything that might be considered harmful or offensive. If the public chose to complain about what they have seen or heard, Ofcom assess it against the code.

Examples of censorship in music videos

One of the music videos that I have looks at is Slim Shady by Eminem. There were a number of reasons as to why the music video was censored. One of them being is that his lyrics ‘Y'all act like you never seen a white person before’ could be seen as racist. If the song was to be played on radios for example, it is open to a wider audience which could offend a large number of people. To prevent this they would have to censor the song before is released. Ofcom could perhaps use blanking to mute the word so it wouldn't offend people when they were to listen to it on the radio or even on music channels.

Another reason why the music video was censored was due to the lyrics having sexual references ‘and expect them not to know what a woman's clitoris is’ and ‘Of course they gonna know what intercourse is’. Audiences such as parents may find this offensive and they may not want their children to be exposed to music containing this. Therefore the music channels may not play the song before nine o’clock or only play a censored version. When Ofcom censors this music video, I think they should use skipping so that you wouldn't hear the sexual words in the song. This would therefore cause less offence to young children and parents.

Eminem is often known to swear in his songs for example, ‘Well I do, so fuck him and fuck you too’ this is seen as offensive and can have a negative impact on the younger audience. They are more innocent and are not old enough to understand that they should repeat the same language as the artist. To censor this video i think they should mute the word out before it is played and therefore they wont be encourage to speak in that way.

A negative to an artist being controversial is that some of the audience may find their work rude and offensive. Therefore it will have impacts such as losing popularity. A positive to this is that in allows the artist to be different. Some people prefer artists who stand out from the rest and they find it fresh and exciting. 

Rihanna Debate

Rihanna is one of the most popular artists releasing 5 successful albums. She has a wide target audience that range from young children to adults. However some people say Rihanna’s music and her music videos may not be appropriate for this target audience.

As a class we were all assigned different roles such as Rihanna, MTV, AKA, parent for, Parent against and a fan. We had a debate on whether Rihanna’s songs and videos are appropriate for her audience and why her music needs to be censored.

Music channels such as AKA and MTV dominate the music industry playing Rhianna's music constantly. However some of her music videos have to be censored as they were deemed inappropriate; Rhianna's music video ‘We found love’ is an example of this. In the video there was a scene where she was seen to be smoking, drug use, drinking alcohol, stealing from the shops, participating in an abusive relationship and sexual contact. If the younger children of her target audience were to watch this music video they may feel it is acceptable to act this way their role model does. They are unable to tell what is reality and what is done for the benefit of a music video. To prevent this we agreed that the music channels should only play the video after nine o’clock when a more appropriate aged audience are likely to watch the video. 

However, the person debating AKA felt that a purpose of a music video is to give the audience a better understanding of the song and the artist. They believe Rihanna's success was partly due to the audience being able to relate to the artist; for example getting caught up in a bad relationship or drinking alcohol. The classmate debating this said “Aka aim to provide a true reflection of the artist and censorship would prevent this”

As a group we also debated about the subject from her fans perspective. We debated whether Rihanna is seen as a good role model if she encourages and promotes drinking, smoking, swearing,  drug use, violence, stealing etc in her music. Fan look up to Rihanna and imitate her behaviour to live the same life style as the artist. Her younger target audiences are more vulnerable and are more likely to be influence by her behaviour that her older target audience.  Some people agreed that she is a bad influence and that she shouldn’t expose her fans to behaviours like that however some people also disagreed. Other people suggested that it’s her job to entertain her fans and they enjoy it. “Her videos is a narrative, they should focus on her as a person and not the storyline of her videos”. I think that ofcom should censor the video to prevent any offense to the audience. One thing in particular would be to use skipping. This would be useful in block out swearing of even offensive behaviour in the video.

After, we looked at it from the perspective of the parents. We agreed that some parent may be for Rihanna’s music not being censored as it informs and educated the audience. “If you educate the children on matters such as drugs, violence and alcohol, they will be able to understand the difference between a video and reality. This will prevent them from copying her and realise it is for entertainment purposes only”. However, some parent may disagree. Most parents want to protect the children from that behaviour and that she should “tone down the violence and nudity in her videos as it influences them”.

From the record labels perspective, her attitudes and behaviours are getting a lot of attention which increases her profit. It is there job to release Rihanna’s music to make a profit we suggested that “it’s their job to release the music, not to be a role model. It is down to the audience to idealise her or not”.

Her music is not only restricted on music channels but it is affected through radio stations. Any language that may be offensive or sensitive has to be censored and if it isn’t it wouldn’t be able to play to song till later in the evening. This would reduce her profits as it would reduce the promotion of the songs. To solve this they could use blanking, skipping or repeating which blocks out the swearing.

A positive to Rihanna displaying this behaviour as it connotes her rebellious behaviour to the audience. They may feel she is just having fun and is carefree, however the negatives to this is that it shows her condoning this 'bad' behaviour making fans feel it is acceptable to act this way even though it isn't. In my opinion I think Rihanna should used less swearing in her lyrics and when she creates her music videos, make it so it is appropriate for all a younger audience. This involves reducing the violence, stealing, drug use, drinking, etc.

When filming our music video we are going to consider the role of censorship and whether it would need to be applied to our music video. If there are any inappropriate words that we feel are unsuitable for the audience we will use of of the techniques such as blanking, skipping, or repeating