Censorship - Miss Miller.

Censorship is when explicit language or activities are suppressed during a song or music video. This may be used to protect younger members of the audience, it also enables artists to attract a wider target audience. For certain media outlets such as radio stations like Capital FM and Kiss 100, censorship is required by law. Genres such as rap an R&B are more likely to suffer from censorship due to the conventional use of bad language. I will be discussing how individuals such as artists, record labels, radio stations and the public are effected by censorship and whether it is beneficial for them.

Artists:

Artists are likely to have a very strong view on censorship as it is their material that is being edited. For example artists such as Kanye West rely on explicit language in order to attract a certain target audience and make their music seem more raw to their fans. Therefore they may be against the idea of censorship as they feel it takes away the element of  originality from their music. An example of a music video being censored is M.I.A's "Paper Planes" where the sound of gun shots in the video is replaced by the sound of a cash register. This would benefit them as it would allow their music to be suitable for the radio, enabling them to attract a wider target audience, in turn enhancing there image. However there is an argument that censorship is irrelevant and the explicit material in music does not effect children. Eminem is one of the many artists who is against censorship as he believes the explicit music he listened to as a child did not effect him, he believes music is a form of entertainment and should not be taken to seriously. He also believes that censorship could deter the die hard fans from his material. Pop artist Rhianna also has a strong view on censorship and believes that songs should be listened to how they were made and not adapted for radio. She was outraged when her hit single 'S&M' was censored on Radio 1 and the name was changed to 'Come on'. Overall I would say that most artists would be against the idea of censorship, especially those more controversial artists, as censorship takes away the original nature of the song. However I can see how censorship could benefit the artists as it makes them more accessible for younger viewers, enhancing their popularity.

Record Labels:
Record labels are concerned about one thing, making as much money as possible. Therefore it is in their best interest that their artists target as wide audience as possible. This means that record labels are likely to be in favour of censorship as it enables the artists music to go out on big radio stations, that will attract a lot of viewers and therefore enhance the artists popularity. Censoring music also means that the airplay of the music is maximised, therefore making the song more well known and which is an advantage to the record label as it means they are likely to make more money.

Radio stations:
For radio stations like Kiss and Capital FM it is required by the law that all explicit material should be censored. Therefore the radio stations are likely to be in favour of artists censoring their music. This means that the radio stations would be allowed to play the artists music, which would attract viewers to their station. If the radio station is gaining a lot of viewers then brands will want to advertise their products on the music station, this will mean the radio station is making more money. Kiss and Capital FM are also family friendly radio stations, therefore censorship is vital for them otherwise they would not be able to attract their target audience.

Parents for censorship:
Parents who are in support of censorship would argue that their children are exposed to too much explicit material through modern technology. They argue that the 18+ activities that are discussed in music is not suitable for their children and it could have an impact on their behaviour as the artist they listen to are their role models and they are likely to imitate them. However they don't want to constantly have to worry whether bad language for example is going to be included in a song on the radio station, therefore they believe that they idea of censoring music allows them to let their children listen to music without having to be concerned about whether they are exposed to explicit activities.

Parents against censorship:
Contrastingly there are parents who are against the idea of censorship as they believe children are meant to be exposed to these explicit activities. They believe that whether or not a singer on the radio is rapping about doing drugs, a child will make their own decision on whether it is right or wrong. Parents argue that children will be exposed to this material sooner or later so why not let them discover it now so they can ask questions. They also believe that being over protective and keeping them away from these sort of topics means they will not be ready for the real world.

Music channels:
Music channels have mixed opinions towards the topic of censorship in music videos. Some channels believe that the product should be portrayed to the audience as its made so it will therefore attract fans who like original music more. This will therefore increase the amount of people viewing their channel. Furthermore they believe that censorship should not be used as it can be seen to make the song less raw. However, some music channels believe that using uncensored music could create a bad image surrounding the music channel, this could therefore tarnish their reputation. Also, using uncensored music would mean that they are limiting their target audience as children would be unable to watch the channel. This therefore means they are not taking full advantage of their potential target audience, meaning they are also not reaching their potential profits.

Conclusion:
In my opinion I believe that overall the issue of censorship mostly depends on the artist themselves and who they are targeting their material towards. I believe that is important for the artist to keep their material as raw as possible as this is what is likely to attract fans of the artist to purchase the product. However if the product is aimed towards the mainstream target audience including children, I believe that it is important that the material is censored. In the music video that I am creating, there are not a lot of explicit lyrics therefore I will not need to worry about censoring them. However as it is a dance related song there will be a lot of drug related activity in the music video.