Research: Censorship

Intro: What is music censorship?

Music censorship is the practice of restricting free access to certain musical works. This can be due to moral, political, military or religious reasons. Music censorship can vary from complete government enforced legal prohibition of a piece of musical work to private, voluntary removal of content. Releasing music without it being censored, without warning could be seen as harmful to the audience. Some music genres are associated with censorship more than others such as Rap & Hip-Hop, this is due to the profanity used in this genre as well as the possibility of nudity. Some artists may feel as if they are being held back due to censorship in music, whereas other people see it as a form of protection and keeps the audience safe, especially young people.

Discuss the difference between explicit content and and explicit lyrics

Explicit content is what a music video can contain, that is inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18 to see. This sort of content includes, nudity, graphic realism, sexual content and possibly extreme violence and profanity. An example of censoring of explicit content is in Robbie Williams - Rock DJ, there was a censored version released where the main character (played by the artist) is not seen removing his clothes then skin as seen in the original video, but is seen as a skeleton at the end of the video. This had to be censored as young children may come across the original video and the content may scare them. Another example is Maroon 5 - This Love, which showed a couple wearing minimal to no clothing as they engaged in sexual intercourse, due to the nudity involved it had to be censored as it was not suitable for all audiences. A more recent example is from the music video of the heavy metal band Ghost B.C. and their video for the song Year Zero, which also had to be censored for nudity which is not appropriate for audiences of all ages.

Explicit lyrics are words used in the audio that are inappropriate for all ages, usually profanity or sexually suggestive language. Explicit lyrics can be censored in many ways including:

• Blanking - volume is silenced for all or part of the word
• Bleeping - a "bleep" noise over the whole part of the word
• Re-sampling - using similar sounding portion of vocals to override the word
• Re-singing - replacing the offensive word with a more appropriate word or phrase
• Repeating - repeating the word before the explicit word
• Skipping - deleting the explicit word without a time delay
• Cutting - completely removing the lines around the word from the song
• Disc scratching - used mainly in hip hop, scratching on the word, making it sound like another word.
• Robo-voicing - making the word non understandable by using an overpowering robotic voice effect
• Distorting - also used in hip hop, offensive words are distorted by shifting down the pitch

An example of a music video that used the technique of blanking out is Eminem - Guilty Conscience. Although there are other songs that are simply uploaded with a warning in the title "(explicit content)". As shown here in Eminem- Rap God.

There is a parental advisory label which was introduced by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1985 and adopted by the British Phonographic Industry in 2011. It is placed on radio recordings and recognises profanities or inappropriate references which has the intention of warning parents of potentially unsuitable material for younger children. It was first put on CD's and cassette tapes, but is now also included in digital listings offered by online music stores such as iTunes and Google Play Music.

What gets censored?

There is very particular content that gets censored, these include:

• Nudity
• Language
• Sexual content
• Drug use
• Violence
• Religion
• Graphic representation and realism
• Depictions of class and culture
• Sexual violence
• Racism
• Shock
• True events
• Controversy and political opinion

Some examples of songs that have been censored and generated media controversy are:

John Travolta - "Greased Lightning" (1978) - Censored due to crude content.

M.I.A - "Paper Planes" (2007) - Censored due to gun shot sounds being heard in the background.

Robin Thicke - "Blurred Lines" - Censored for nudity throughout the music video.

Examples of lyric and radio censorship

Songs played on the radio must be suitable for all audiences as there is no way of setting an age restriction or placing a warning on a radio show. Any inappropriate lyrics must be censored before being played on radio, these are usually done through blanking, repeating, disc scratching and bleeping.

An example of this is in the radio edit for Chance The Rapper - No Problem, which uses disc scratching and blanking over some profanity in the original song.

Difference between cut and banned

Cutting a music video means certain parts of the audio or video are removed to make it more suitable for all or certain ages - so it can still be shown to the audience. Banning a song or a music video means it is completely censored and unable to access by the public, this is usually done by the government or other institutions due to these institutions considering the song or video to be too inappropriate to be presented to an audience.

An example of this is the song "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke, which has been banned by more than 20 universities in the UK including, Plymouth University, Leeds University, University of Birmingham, University of East Anglia, and a number of Oxford and Durham colleges.

Advantages of censorship:

• Prevents public display of disrespect to any particular individual or community
• Protects vulnerable audiences such as children
• Promotes political correctness - offending less people
• Shields morals of society
• Restrains vulgarity and obscenity
• Discourages inappropriate behaviour

Disadvantages of censorship:

• Comprises freedom of speech
• May compromise entertainment value
• Does not appeal to a variety of audiences who will have different tastes
• Does not uphold people's right to hear whatever they want
• Seen as a form of governmental control - which is not democratic
• Broadcasts only a particular point of view
• Legitimate criticism can be blocked
• Restricting creativity
• Prevents ideas from flowing freely

Conclusion:

Censorship can be seen as vital to society, due to the nature of some content and the vulnerability of certain audiences. It is a form of protection of society as explicit lyrics and content can affect different people in different ways. As I will most likely be making a song based on the Rap/Hip-hop genre, I will have to take censorship into heavy consideration, I cannot allow profanity, nudity, violence or sexual content to be visible in the music video or be present in the audio, this is despite the lyrics may having this sort of content. My audiences have to be considered as they are the ones I am appealing to which directly correlates with the success of my music video. After a process of censorship during the post production stage, I believe this will allow my music video to be accessible to people of all ages and therefore a much wider audience. I will also be using the parental advisory label if my music video contains mild explicit content or lyrics.