Censorship - Miss Miller

For decades, music videos have faced censorship due to artist beginning to craft visual companions to their music. Censorship of music is the practice of restricting free access to musical works. This involves censoring explicit themes such as weapons, strong language or violence that could be deemed as offensive or a threat to audiences or people in power (e.g government). A prime audience that are protected by censorship are young children, so that they are not influenced to do what 'bad' or offensive activities are shown. Music videos may include nudity or drug abuse and this may be seen as too mature for the young children to see, so these are censored as well as strong language. Of com is the communication regulator in the UK. It regulates TV and radio, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services and the airwaves which wireless devices use. It has a legal duty to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from harmful or offensive material used in communication. An example of a music video that has been banned is Lana Del Rey's 'Born to Die' video, where we see she and "her lover" kiss, smoke marijuana and drive around in a car. Also at the end of the video, her lover carried her bloodied body from a background of flames, insinuating she died in a car crash. MTV disapproved the video simply for her violent death. The artist, Lana told a reporter that she wished she was dead because of the censorship. Indie-pop star, Lana is known for creative, story telling music videos that her target audience enjoy watching and understand her songs a lot more. However, parents may think that the music video is too explicit, due to the violent death and that children may be even scared of it. Rapper, Eminem opposes censorship and believes that children will see the explicit content no matter what and that it wont affect their behaviour as music is purely for entertainment. 

Artist
Rihanna also opposes with censorship as she disagrees that she feels she cannot express herself nor show off her personality that audiences are intrigued to see. When it comes to Rihanna's music videos, it is evident that she is not afraid to showcase the many things that could be censored for example, in the B*tch better have my money video she is seen nude but covered in blood and lots of money laying in a chest. Rihanna has expressed before in her famous music video S&M which was banned in 11 countries, her thoughts on censorship as she mocks it by wearing a boob tube printed with the word censored.

Rihanna is an artist that makes her own rules and with her music videos and censorship she argues that she can do what she wants with them as its hers and she is not afraid of judgement. When finding out about the controversy with her S&M video, Rihanna went of social network Twitter and tweeted "Are you f*cking kidding me???" showing her angriness to the censoring of her song. Also when asked by a fan whether she was okay with the situation, she said "Absolutely NOT!". She also feels that with her music videos she is 'growing up' with her audiences as she sometimes adapts to their interests or make it relatable to their life situations. 

Record Label
Rihanna belongs to the record labels: Roc Nation, Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records. These labels are known to sign artists most likely in the R&B,Pop and Hip Hop genres which frankly some include the explicit themes that may be censored.  In relation to censorship, the labels argue that music videos from their artists should not be censored as its their way of expression. As Rihanna is a controversial artist, her music videos attracts a wider audience due to its individualistic, which increase her popularity and sales due to the publicity of her music videos. If music videos were to be censored, this limits the creativity for artists in their music and may even make music videos in general just look too similar, as they are restricting what is to be heard or seen in these videos. Also argue that Rihanna tells it how it is in her music videos, and some may be relatable to the audiences and shows her as not 'fake' but a true representation of herself. Furthermore, the record label feel that censorship does not do them any favours and also by not using Parental Advisory stickers on the albums, this attracts a wider audience. Finally, they argue that Rihanna is held responsible for the influence of pop as a genre of music, and these songs which are from this genre have soured in the top charts e.g Stay (Number 1 on US pop songs chart) and We found love (Number 1 on UK Dance chart). 

Parents For Censorship
In a research collected by Of com from 1000 parents, they found that there were a lot of sexual content and nudity in entertainment, especially music videos. With the explicit content used in Rihanna's songs and music videos, they argue that she is not setting a good example for children and that they're easily influenced with the content shown. As music videos expand and are available to watch on different platforms, it is evident that more younger children are witnessing these music videos, which parents believe are influencing children's behaviour. An example of an artist who's been in the spotlight for children and is seen as a 'role model' is Miley Cyrus. Miley Cyrus was involved in her own TV show which aired on Disney Channel, called Hannah Montana. The TV show is highly known and watched by young children. After, being heavily involved with Hannah Montana, Miley has become quite out-going and less child friendly which leads to children maybe being influenced to copy the things she does.

we cant stop video

Her image and behaviour have changed rapidly that she's been spoken about in the media so much for this change. For example her song 'we wont stop' was spoken about a lot in the media, as this was her debut as someone new. In the video we see sexual behaviour such as spanking, dancing sexually and kissing. Parents argue with Miley Cyrus's drastic change, this affects her original target audiences of young children more than the ones she's trying to attract now. Therefore,artist who were popular in children's entertainment and were seen as role models then, should be considerate that children may still be idolising them and watching they're every move, which may lead to copying of behaviour. In reference to Rihanna, Parents argue that the song S&M is too explicit and children have been influenced by it. For example a 10 year old boy was singing the song and got into trouble as the other children were wondering what it meant, but also singing the lyrics that they did not even understand the meaning behind.

Parents Against Censorship
Parents against censorship argue that there a far more factors that influence children's behaviour, not only music videos. With the topic of nudity in music videos, these parents argue that nudity is natural and should not be censored as children should be able to see it so that they're more comfortable in society and feel equal. In addition, they say that by Rihanna exposing her body, it is allowing feminism to be seen in society. Also, when referring to smoking and drinking in music videos, they argue that children see these actions in real life so what difference does it make when its shown on music videos. Around 158.8 million people in the world smoke weed, so if children see this in their lives why cant they simple watch it on music videos. These parents simply argue that there is no need for censoring whats already out there in real life, and that regulating music videos only hides the reality of the world which keeps children out of the loop. Rihanna's target audience are most likely to be 16 year olds and onwards, and in our country 16 year olds are legally allowed to play the lottery. So if children at 16 are allowed to gamble, why cant Rihanna who is a 27 year old woman allowed to gamble in her own music videos? Also 2% of 12 - 15 year olds who are exposed to gambling at a young age actually develop an addiction. The lowest age to go to jail is 10, and in the laws eyes children this age onwards should know whats right and wrong. So if children can go jail at 10, this shows that children are mature enough to know whats right and wrong in a music video, and what not to copy. Events like Nottingham carnival, drugs are taken and the police do not do anything about it. At this event, children do attend so are likely to be exposed by drugs. What is the difference if the child sees drugs in a music video. More or less, music videos usually show the negative sides of drugs anyways, so really they educate the children not actually encourage them to use them. Therefore, parents against censorship simply believe that censorship is useless when the law states that children are old enough to do certain things that are seen in music videos. Furthermore, Rihanna only includes these themes to promote herself and most of the time, explicit themes included are evident in real life, so there is no shame of showcasing it in her music videos, when its already out there. 

Fans 
In agreement with the parents against censorship, Fans also oppose censoring of music videos. Rihanna is a highly known celebrity that is in the public eye all the time. She currently has over 81 million likes on her Facebook page, 22million Instagram followers and over 48million followers on Twitter. These statistics show that Rihanna is highly appreciated and has a wide fan base that enjoy what she does.

Rihanna in pour it up video

They also argue that censorship is objectionable as you cannot see Rihanna's real personality, which many do what to see. The mail online said ' Pour it up ' video was "vile and pornographic" which told the readers that she is a bad influence. Fans would disagree with the mails statement about the video and argue that, the video may be explicit due to the themes of pole dancing but not 'pornographic'. In addition, the dancing seen in the video shows fans more about Rihanna as an artist, and lets them in her life style. However, not all of Rihanna's explicit music videos are just for fun, in the video for 'Love the way you lie' featuring Eminem, we see the topic domestic violence showcased in the video. This is an informative, realistic video that shows to her audiences what a domestic violence relationship looks like and how to speak out. Also Rihanna herself has experience domestic abuse in the past with her ex boyfriend, R&B singer Chris Brown in 2009. The sensitivity and bravery shown form Rihanna by showcasing this to her fans, makes her more of a role model and someone to look up to as those who have experienced what she's been through can relate with her. Overall fans of Rihanna simple think that censorship is wrong, as it restricts artists expressing themselves and also if they don't like it they don't have to watch it, so they shouldn't change it for everyone else who do enjoy the explicit themes in music videos. 

MTV (British Music Channel)
The MTV channel are for censorship, however they do allow uncensored videos to be shown on their channel after 9pm, which is called watershed. MTV argue that this schedule is fair to both audiences and artist, videos that are not censored may be censored in the day, but not at night. So older audience can watch the videos on their channel at the appropriate time. They argue that censorship is simply there to protect the children from seeing explicit themes and copying the behaviour shown. They believe as a music channel, it is their responsibility to regulate what is shown at what time, as they are aware they're audiences range from a young age upwards. The lead author of the position paper stated that children spend an average of 2 hours a day listening to music through headphones. This makes it harder for parents to hear what their child is listening to as they are not aware because they cannot hear it. MTV also prefer artists who are aware of they're audiences that may be young, to censor videos themselves. Lady Gaga and Madonna do this by having two videos released, where one is censored and the other one is not. For example Lady Gaga's song paparazzi has an explicit music video and a normal one on youtube. However some may argue that this is pointless, as technology has advanced and there are many ways to get a hold of music videos, so children are bound to see the explicit music videos anyways. But MTV still agree with censorship, as they are aware of their wide audience, and want to keep their ratings so they make their channel for everyone by having watershed, so both young audiences and older audiences are 'Happy'.

Channel AKA (British Music Channel)

Channel AKA oppose censorship, as they believe it goes against their whole purpose as a music channel. The music channel is known to showcase upcoming artists as well as the successful ones. Channel AKA believe that it is not their job to regulate what is said or seen in music videos, and that their job is to simple showcase music videos not edit them. Moreover, that they are not entitled to control ones music nor music videos, and that everyone is their own person and peoples individuality should be seen. If one does not want to watch a music video with swearing in it, then they should not watch it, but that does not mean the music channel has to censor the song just to meet the standards for one. They argue that the censoring in music videos takes away the artists freedom of speech. They believe that the songs or music videos showcase artists true intentions and messages to their fans and with the censoring it restricts them. Also Channel AKA argue that there are far more worse things going on around in the world in real life, than swearing in music videos. They argue that music videos are a way of showing the real representation of the artist and that it allows their creativity to be seen. Chris Brown's song 'These Hoes Ain't Loyal' is censored on some music channels, e.g the word Hoes is changed into girls. This change of the lyrics implies that Chris Brown is calling all girls not loyal, when really in the uncensored lyric, he is just referring to women who are 'Hoes'. Censoring confuses audiences and takes away the real meanings of artists lyrics, which is unfair as its their music and they should be allowed to say whatever they want to be understood. Therefore, Channel AKA do not agree with censorship.

BBC Radio 1 (British Radio Station)
BBC Radio 1 are for censorship due to their wide audience of all ages. BBC radio 1 presenter Nick Grimshaw refused to play Rihanna's single ' S&M '. However instead BBC Radio 1 changed the title of the song to 'Come On', this iteration of Rihanna's racy track S&M had all references to "sex," "chains" and "whips" edited out. Rihanna did not like that they made a new version of her song and took twitter to show her rage. But BBC Radio 1 continued playing the radio edit, which is called Come on, and also continued to play the original track in specialist shows with an appropriate introduction for example instead of having the lyrics " but chains and whips, excite me", we hear the words 'chains' and 'whips' censored out with a sound affect. 

Capital Xtra (British Radio Station)
When it comes to censorship, Capital Xtra are for it but uncensored songs are played at watershed. The radio station is fully aware of their audiences and how they have young audiences as well, so by having watershed they are considerate to all audiences. Capital Xtra do believe in freedom of speech, but because of their vast audience, it is important that they censor explicit languages at the appropriate times. Strong language in a song would be replaced with either silence;beeping, re-sampling, back masking and repeating. This technique is used to make sure that they have not changed the song completely as audiences probably still know what the word is, but just censored out words which they believe is harmful for younger audiences. 

From this research, the general overview is equally fair and both subjects that are either for or against censorship have some fair good points. A point that has been mentioned quite a lot for those for censorship, is that it is good because it protects children from seeing or hearing harmful things which they may copy or be influenced by. Also, a key point that those against censorship said was that it restricts the artists and takes away their freedom of speech which everyone is suppose to be entitled by. However, my personal opinion is that songs should not be censored as I believe it is down to the parent or child to control themselves and not watch or listen to music with explicit content. Also, I am against censorship because I believe music in general is a tool to be creative and express yourself, and if censored it is not really personal which defeats the purpose of making music. But I believe that if artists are aware of their younger audiences, I think when releasing an explicit video or song there should be an appropriate introduction stating what is including, so that viewers are aware of what explicit themes they are about to see or hear.When referring to censorship in my planning for music video, I do not think I will be using censorship in my music video. This is because I want my artist to be free to express themselves so that audiences can get a better understanding of the song.