Research into Music Censorship

DO YOU THINK MUSIC VIDEOS SHOULD BE CENSORED?

Censorship within music or music videos is the removal of any communication that could be considered offensive or harmful. Offensive language in pop music can be removed in many ways, such as; blanking, beeping, repeating the word before, resampling, resinging, distorting, etc. Ofcom is the communications regulator. They ensure the UK has a wide range of electronic and high-speed communication services such as broadband. Another duty of theirs is to protect viewers from any harmful of offensive material. They try to avoid complaints by censoring anything that could be classed as offensive because they don’t want to tarnish their good reputation.

The music video to ‘F*** You’ by Cee Lo Green was banned from MTV in the US for its bad language. The music video consists of featuring kinetic typography, with the explicit lyrics of the song appearing on different colored backgrounds. The clean version of the music video contains re-shot footage which have been mixed with parts from the original video. This is noticable when Cee Lo is on screen and he is singing alternative lyrics, but he is not shown singing the clean lyrics in the chorus. Parts of the alternative video tend to freeze for a split second when a censored lyric is being mouthed to prevent the lips from being read. Due to the fact that it was noticeably clear through mouth movements what lyrics Cee Lo was implying, the music video was consequently banned.

Lady Gaga and Rihanna are two examples of artists who are responsible for releasing explicit music videos that have either been censored of banned from different music/music television networks. Lady Gaga’s music video to ‘Alejandro’ caused controversy due to her religious imagery. Part of Gaga’s music video consists of her dropping rosemary into her mouth while dressed as a nun. Katy Perry tweeted on the day of the video’s release "Using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedian telling a far joke." As a result of the negative response to Gaga’s ‘Alejandro’, the music video was also banned from MTV in the US. 

Rihanna is responsible for many controversial music videos such as ‘We Found Love’, ‘S&M’ (which was banned in eleven countries) and ‘Man Down’. The music video to ‘Man Down’ shocked audiences when it displayed graphic scenes of rape and murder. The video was immediately denounced as “sick” after it was aired for the first time on US network BET. The video received many parental complaints however, Rihanna defended the video by stating, "We just wanted to hone in on a very serious matter that people are afraid to address, especially if you've been victimised in this scenario." The music video was not banned.

Eminem Debate:

Artist: Eminem’s reason for using explicit lyrics in his song is to inform and emphasise to fans and other audiences about his hard life and tragic past. He also has strong opinions about certain subjects therefore feels that strong language will help him deliver his opinions and that censoring will tarnish that outcome.

Fans: The fans support Eminem’s bad language as they feel that he is simply expressing situations that many people can relate to. They believe that Eminem’s explicit lyrics are there to educate audiences and allow them to learn from his experiences.

Record Label: The record label consider censoring to be unnecessary as Eminem is one of the world’s best selling, Grammy-winning artists.  He has achieved ten number-one albums and sold over 100 million records worldwide. The record label believe that people support him and his explicit songs therefore there is no need for censoring.

Parents:
For – Some parents believe that Eminem should have the freedom to compose lyrics that suit him whether they be explicit or not and that it is a parents’ responsibility to decide whether they want their children to listen to his music or not.

Against – Other parents feel that Eminem’s language is unacceptable as he is a role model for many children. They believe that his offensive language is intentional and that children could easily adopt his language.

AKA: AKA support Eminem’s language as his lyrics represent the true artist. They believe that he has built a specific image for himself and they wouldn’t want to tarnish that.

MTV: MTV are the first and most popular music television network in the US with a great reputation and large audiences that vary in age. They censor every piece of language that could be considered offensive as they do not want to ruin their immaculate reputation, offend audience members or lose viewers.

Conclusion:

My personal opinion is that music videos should be censored when shown on television. I think this because music television networks are used to promote music videos. They are still doing this by airing a censored version and without offending anybody. It is usually noticeable when a music video has been censored therefore if audience members are comfortable with explicit videos, then they can go online and watch the explicit version. This way audiences have the choice of watching censored or explicit music videos and nobody is consequently offended.