censorship

Censorship is the covering up of content deemed to be explicit or offensive, censorship is used to protect younger children from seeing material they may not be mentally prepared for, there are multiple methods of censoring music including bleeping over the words, changing the lyrics, silencing the words or repeating the previous word before, it is used to stop artists from causing offence and stops under age children from seeing content that is not appropriate, another alternative to censorship is to put the music past the watershed hour of nine o'clock in which children are unlikely to be watching music channels/listening to the radio and therefore explicit music/videos are shown, explicit content usually involves things such as smoking, drinking, drugs, sex, stealing and gambling.

Ofcom are the regulator and competition authority for UK communication industries. It is focused on TV and radio, fixed line telecoms, mobile phones, postal services and the airwaves which wireless devices use, they protect people who use these devices from coming across material that may cause offence to them.

Cee lo greens 'Fuck you' was censored for its explicit language and was changed to 'forget you', in which some lyrics were changed to cleaner content, this allowed fans of all ages to listen to his music and be abel to enjoy it and also allowed his song to be publicised on big radios such as capital and channels such as MTV. Eminems 'guilty conscience' featuring dr dre was censored on MTV due to the video involving robbery, date rape and murder, part of the video was removed and then shown on MTV with only the part involving murder being taken away, both were deemed offensive and not appropriate material for young, impressionable children.

The artist, Rhianna is against censorship, she feels it doesn't allow her to express herself in her music and really show of her character, this means kids will believe they shouldn't show what they are really like and hide their true feelings which will lead to depression and mental health issues, she also feels her music needs to be shocking to make it memorable and get it lots of publicity, meaning it is more likely to be successful and make her a bigger artist, not all her videos are explicit and she only has questionable content in certain videos. Her S&M video was banned in multiple countries and censored on radio, restricting the gloabalisation of her song and making it difficult for her to become popular over the world, she shows that she believes censorship is out of hand by wearing a top saying 'censored', almost mocking the idea of it and taking away the ability for others to censor that.

The record label Roc label are against censorship, they own massive artists in the world of music like Jay Z and Rhianna, they feel it is a breach of artistic integrity and takes away the true meaning and message of the song, it prevents record sales as younger people cannot buy them and it prevents the artists from widening their audience, the more controversial the video, the more publicity gained and therefore the more people see/hear the song and therefore the artist becomes more well known, Rhianna already has a controversial image and needs to keep up her appearance to please her fans, the songs do not only allow artists to express themselves but also narrate their lifes, if it is censored it is not the same story and wont be as hard hitting, Rhianna is so big now that she is influencing the way pop is developing and perceived and therefore should be able to do what she wants to help progress music.

Parents that disagree with censorship argue that the uncensored versions are still easily accessible to children on the internet and will not stop them from watching it and will merely increase their curiosity and will make them really want to watch it, possibly making the music influence them more than it usually would, they believe that things such as nudity (which are censored) are natural and should be celebrated, not censored and will make children believe sex is wrong which can have a negative effect on them, children have a mind of their own and are smarter than they are given credit for and have their own mind, just because they see it on telly it doesn't mean they will go around doing it, most children have their own, strong, independent mid set already at a young age and this will not be changed by a video. In the UK 10,000 people smoke out of 64.1 million, therefore if kids were that impressionable there would be millions more smoking due to kids seeing it everyday, also the censorship of drug taking is unreasonable as well, it just informs them of the dangers of the world and will prepare them for when they see it in real life, which is inevitable as 1.58 million people smoke it, artists songs can bring across important messages for children and censorship manipulates and stops the message from helping people, also Rhiannas target audience are 16 year olds, by that age you will already have a strong mind set, this is evidently the governments belief as well as you can go to jail at the age of ten, meaning that by that age it is believed you should be in control of your own actions and gambling (which is censored) is legal in the form of scratch cards, it has been found that only 2% of 12-16 year old children exposed to gambling gain an addiction, this means the majority will not be effected also drugs, which are censored are legal at certain festivals and therefore it is slightly hypocritical for them to be censored in music videos.

Parents that agree with censorship believe that sexual content, drugs, explicit language and nudity as things that parents believed should definitely be censored results from a survey of 1000 parents found, children are influenced by artists which act as role models, e.g miley cyrus grew up as an actor on childrens shows (hannah montana) and children identified and held her as a role model and now she is involved in lots of explicit content which could make children imitate her and try to be like her, lots of artists show their musical talent off without the need of explicit content, if they were truly talented artists they would't need all this material that is harmful to children, if there is no censorship the parents will not be able to protect their child from this unsuitable material and will be played everywhere, at least with censorship the parents can know that their children will not hear swearing and offensive language on the radio whilst they are out, also parents do not want their children copying some of the language sung by artists, as they can unknowingly cause offence, not knowing the true meaning of the words they are saying, songs based around sex and drugs has affected the generation growing up with that music around them, makes children believe drugs are fine and normal and that they should be taking them without worry, in october 2013 Rhianna fans were quoted by mail online to find Rhiannas new music video 'vile and obscene', showing that even fans disagree with her content and believe it should be toned down.

Fans of these artists are against censorship believe that censorship doesn't allow artists to show off their true personality and let the audience truly build a relationship with them, they believe that a few lyrics won't affect people and change their behaviour and beliefs completely, it is the parents jobs to protect their children, not Ofcom, MTV, and radio staions, the parents should be watching their kids and not letting them get out of hand, people will already know to expect content like this from Rhianna due to her being such as big artist, therefore if they don't want to be offended, don't watch her music videos, she has 81 million likes on facebook and 47 million followers on twitter, therefore it is extremely unlikely for people to not know about her content. Censorship also stops her from getting across her true message, which can prevent really important messages getting across to her fans about serious issues in the real world that could affect them everyday and could be the difference between a better life for them, the censorship makes the music confusing and ruins it for the fans.

AKA radio disagree with censorship, they believe it stops the artists on their station from showcasing themselves and their talent, this restricts the artist from getting bigger and publicising themselves, censorship prevents them from getting across their true message and expressing themselves as artists, there are much worse things going on in the world to focus on such as war, poverty, cancer, homelessness, etc, yet people are worried about a swearword in a song when children overhear people swearing all the time and will pick it up eventually, the censorship of songs prevents the artist from getting across their true point of the song and why they made it and what they are trying to tell the public/their fans, censorship mixes it and and makes it confusing for fans, artists tell their life experiences as well in songs, if there is censorship then the story will not be accurate and will not be as representative of the artist and his background.

BBC radio agree with censorship, most lyrics are too strong nowadays and our viewers would be offended by the material in these songs, therefore we prevent any offensive lyrics from being played through our radio so that our viewers remain happy and listen to our station, one of our presenters, nick grimshaw petitioned to get the song S&M banned on radio, and was successful, showing the dedication and belief of our staff that censorship is important and needs to be ever present in music, we, as a successful and respected radio station believe that every station has the right to play and ban whatever songs they want to as a station, and shouldn't be pressured by artists to promote songs they feel are unsuitable for their audience

MTV believe there needs to be censorship, although explicit language/content is allowed past the 'watershed' hour of nine o clock we try to protect young, impressionable children from material that could affect them and only show this type of music past nine when young children will be in bed, we are not completely against censorship, as stated before, in 1996 MTV protested in the fight music censorship campaign, which shows we only believe in the regulation of it and not complete banning of it, surveys suggest most teens spend two hours a day listening to music on headphones, making it increasingly difficult for parents to watch what their kids are listening to, said Dr Rosaria Gonzalez, a pediatrician and lead author of the position paper, reports have also found that children who listen to explicit and violent music become more aggressive, anti social and promiscuous, MTV constantly receive criticism from parent run organisations based on censorship and feel that if we want to progress as a channel and company, we need to listen to complaints and act on them, artists on MTV are successful artists and role models to young children, we feel that the fans will imitate the artists action which could cause a change in behaviour that could get them into serious trouble, artists such as Madonna and Lady Gaga create a censored and uncensored version of their songs, allowing channels like us to play their songs as soon as possible and help publicise them, whilst they help us and save us the trouble of censoring their music, so therefore it is a win win on all sides

Capital xtra believe in the freedom of speech for artists , they should be able to say what they want and can create a censored version themselves to allow younger fans to watch their videos, we have also used the 'watershed' tactic and allow artists to play uncensored songs past nine o cock, although artists are sometimes annoyed by this it prevents fans of our show being offended and is overall the right decision, we censor music by blanking it (silence over the word), blinking it (bleep over the word), replacing the word with another or back masking, playing the word in reverse, this allows the song to be played but changes them slightly to prevent offence, our audience are mostly elder teenagers/young adults so they can handle explicit language if they listen past nine o clock.

Censorship is key in music and will need to carry on throughout, although a lot of people including artists themselves, fans and record labels disagree with it due to restricting the artists success it is needed to stop the artists from manipulating peoples behavior through their songs and possibly causing a negative effect on a large sector of society. I believe music needs to be censored to protect young children, which are in most cases extremely impressionable from copying bad role models and using language that could get them into serious trouble without them realising what they are really saying, also if the take drugs, like artists or gamble they will become addicted and seriously ruin their life's in the long run, which could, and currently is being prevented through censorship. I would like to follow censorship rules as it allows for more of a story to be shown in a non offensive way, most explicit songs do not have a narrative and are based on a majority of swearing throughout the song

Diversity of music videos

A music video is diverse when it separates itself from a normal music video and the conventional ingredients for the genre it is categorised as, it captures the audiences attention for its odd and unusual content, this usually allows it to become publicised through word of mouth, with people talking about it due to it being unconventional and also it is shared on social media sites such as twitter and Facebook, people re tweet or like these posts and it spreads it across the internet, therefore publicising it for free and extremely efficiently, word spreads extremely quickly and things on the internet can get around the world in an instant, helping the globalisation of a song, the positives of having a diverse music video is that it gives the artist publicity due to everyone talking about the video being different and can therefore bring in a wider and different audience for the artist, making them more popular and successful, it also creates a more memorable video and builds hype, this allows for it to become much more successful within its audience, helping publicise the artist to a wider audience, helping them stand out in comparison to other artists of their genre. However there are negatives to having a diverse video, it could force your current fans away due to feeling that you are not their type of artist anymore due to a change in style, which means it could backfire, along with this it could just not be successful as it is a risk, therefore being a flop and not attracting new fans, this also creates an odd reputation for the artist, which in some circumstances may prevent them from being successful, also the video may be confusing to fans and they will not understand what is going on within the video.

Chris Cunningham is a video artist from reading, his debut album was come to daddy with the artist aphex twins, this was a huge hit when it came out, this then lead to him creating another video with aphex twin named window licker, both were unconventional and this lead to the huge publicity of it, finally he worked with Madonna in the frozen video, another odd and unconventional music video, again leading to the advertisement of it and allowed Madonna to show a different side to her music and show a different character, allowing the audience to see a new side to her and therefore create a relationship with her, all his work is a great example of diverse music videos and therefore allows him to stand out compared to other directors.

Madonnas frozen music video is extremely unconventional to its genre of pop, you expect bright lighting, whereas this is very dull lighting and doesn't create a feel good mood within the audience, which is usually the aim of this genre, this creates an eerie mood within the audience as the darkness represents sadness and possible danger, this feeling reflects on the audience and makes them understand the seriousness of the scene, low key lighting is used throughout to show the audience her sadness and dark personality, the lighting becomes much darker at 3:05 in which she begins to look as if she is possessed, this shows the true nature of the video also she is covered up completely and is not using sexual references in the video, which is unusual as you would expect voyeuristic features in the video to catch the audiences attention, this makes the audience create a relationship with her as they begin to see that she has real talent and can be successful with just the use of her voice, it also shows that she has a bit more personality and helps her stand out from other artists in the pop genre as she can stray away from conventions and feel confident in creating a successful hit song, the audience begin to appreciate her talent due to this which helps her advertise herself to a wider audience as she will become wider renounced within the music industry. From Goodwin's theory madonnas video uses a few points, there are lots of close ups of the artist, advertising her face to help sell the song and her as a product, also the music matches the visuals as it is quite slow and so is her dancing, the lyrics also match the video, when 'love needing to fly' is mentioned the artist turns into a bird, this allows the audience to follow the narrative with ease and understand the song and therefore are more likely to enjoy it, it also has a hidden meaning, she is trying to say to the audience that love is like a bird and needs to be set free to flourish, not constricted and possessive like some, this also links in with the low key lighting as it is representing the dark side of love and showing it is not all happiness. It is hugely performance based as well, it is focused on dancing and singing, there is also a slight bit of concept as it is showing her world to the audience, this represents the artist as mysterious and deep, due to the imagery on the screen. The artist is represented as eerie and mysterious through her movement and the fact she is constantly shying away from the camera by not looking at it and covering her face with her hands, this stops the audience from creating relationships with her as they do not feel like they are truly part of the music video and do not feel it is made for them, this causes the audience to feel separated from her and that she doesn't truly appreciate them, she wears black clothing throughout showing that she has a dark side to her that her audience may not know about and lets them see into her personality more, however it may also make the audience fearful of her as they can see that she is slightly twisted and has an evil side to her that the audience may dislike, this could make the audience stray away from her and her music as they become fearful of her, which  could prevent her from becoming successful and make her become a flop.

In aphex twins come to daddy, the video is again unconventional, he is part of the electronic genre and the video shows an elderly person in the video, which is extremely unusual in this genre, usually there would be lots of young people to show that the genre is 'current' and 'mainstream' at the current time, helping it to be successful as the audience see young people enjoying it in the video and therefore think it must be good music, whereas this involves the elderly as well as extremely young children, which confuses the audience as theses age groups would not typically listen to this genre, which could prevent the audience from watching it as they feel it is not a conventional electro genre song which they would enjoy, also there are lots of children running around causing trouble, which is not only disturbing but also different to other videos we are used to. The artist is represented as slightly twisted and abusive, this is due to his face begin extremely twisted and demented on the TV and the fact that he has his head on innocent, harmless little children who are seen as impressionable by the audience, showing he is abusing his power and turning harmless children into menaces, causing the audience to see how twisted he is, also he creates a fear factor within the audience, making them wonder what is going on and what his plans are in the video, this prevents the artist from creating relationships with the audience as they become fearful and scared of the artist and stop listening to his music. There are lots of close ups of the artist as his face is on the TV screen they are carrying around with them, this TV is focused upon as it is being carried around and has a demented face on it which is also singing, this helps the artist create a relationship with the audience as they begin to remember his face as it is constantly on screen, helping them recognise him, meaning it may persuade them into buying future work of his as they recognise his face, another point from Goodwin's theory is that there is intertextual references as the artists face is on a TV, linking it with TV. The video is primarily narrative based on the possessed children causing havoc within the estate and also concept as it is the artists dream world of destruction and terror, this shows the true personality of the artist and although the audience get an insight into the true personality of the artist, it could possibly push them away as they begin to be scared of him and the dark thoughts he portrays through the video.

In Aphex twins window licker the video is unconventional to the electro genre, it starts off as more of a story than a music video, the actors are seen as uncool which is unusual, also the artist, who is represented as the complete opposite, is not brung into the video until late, usually the artist is focused on throughout, this may confuse the audience at first but once they get into the video they realise the artist is representing himself as superior and better than normal people, although this may put off some audiences as they feel like they are not appreciated by the artist and are being used, some audiences may enjoy this and begin to worship him as an artist, listening to all his music and truly enjoying the artists work as it has convinced them he is superior, the artist has lots of close ups on him once he enters the video, this helps the audience focus on him and remember his face, the artist tries to make sure his face is constantly on screen so that the audience remember it and they recognise his face, he does this through not only close ups but by putting his face on everyone in the videos head it is performance based as there is lots of dancing from the artist, another Goodwin's theory point is that the women are represented voyeuristicly and are made to look like sex objects, this draws in a male audience but can also push away female fans, it helps the audience have an insight into his lifestyle and personality and may help them create a relationship with him as they understand what his personality is, however, some may disagree with his views on women which could push them away from his music and make him less successful, also it is narrative due to the story at the beginning, the artist is represented as cool and 'God like', he represented as 'sexually desirable' and extremely vain as he puts his own face on the women, this helps the audience create a relationship with him as they can remember his face as it is constantly on screen, however, the artist is seen as creepy which may push the audience away from creating a relationship and could cause them to stop listening to his work, it is primarily performance based as well as narrative, the performance is the artist dancing frantically and the narrative is the beginning where the two men are driving around trying to chat up the women.

Michael Gondry is a French citizen born in 1963, he is a music director known for working with white stripes and kylie minogue, he is known for his unconventional videos insighting into artists real life, letting the audience get to know them and show they are more down to earth than we think, his first music video directed was with oui oui - 'junior et sa voix d'or', but the biggest artist he has worked with to date is Kylie Minogue still, alongside the rolling stones. 

In white stripes 'button to button' the video is unconventional to their typical genre, garage rock, the artists are in the streets playing instruments, the audience would expect them to be on a stage or in front of an audience, there are lots of close ups of the artist to sell them as a product, the music matches the the visuals as a new frame is shown every time there is a new beat, it is performance based as it is focused on the artists playing instruments, this shows the artist is a star as they are performing to the audience, making the audience look up to them as artists and feel like they are truly talented as they are performing. This represents the artist as talented due to playing instruments well and showing off that not only can they sing, but they can play instruments at the same time, showing their dedication toward their career and that they are striving to do well through hard work, this means the audience are more appreciative as they can see that the artist truly does work hard, also the artist is shown as down to earth as they are playing their music in the streets instead of on stage where you would usually expect stars to be, this shows that they are everyday people as they are on the streets (which everyday people can relate to) and makes them seem more likeable as they are going back to their roots and not taking their success for granted. For Goodwin's theory the music and visuals match, the new drum appears the music goes with it, with the sound of a drum being hit, this allows the audience ego relate the video to the song and therefore makes it more likely for it to stick in their head and shows that the artist is organised and is professional, making the audience appreciate the work that has gone into the video and understand that the artist is serious about his career and takes care in their work and showing that they want to create an enjoyable and understandable music video for their artist as they care about them and don't feel that they are better than the audience. The artist is represented as down to earth and a likeable person as they are in places that everyday people walk through and can access easily, this makes the audience feel closer to them and take more of a liking to them as they feel like they would get on with the artist, helping build a relationship between them, this makes it more likely for the audience to listen to the artists work as they will want them to do well and listen to more of the artists future and previous work as they start to enjoy their music due to feeling closer to them.

Kylie Minogues 'come into my world' is unconventional of her genre, pop, usually the artist is more revealing in her clothing, whereas, in this video she is clothed normally, hardly showing off skin and not wearing any glamorous, over expensive clothing that the audience could not afford, also it is based in the streets, showing off her normal lifestyle behind the screens, showing that she is down to earth and that the audience can relate to her and her lifestyle and that she is achievable to be like, there are lots of close ups of the artist throughout, selling her as a product as she is well known as an artist which will sell the song to her current target audience as she is shown off throughout, for Goodwin's theory, the music and visuals match as she walks in time with the beat and this allows the song to look well co-ordinated and neat, making her look more professional to her audience and therefore they appreciate the work she has put in, this is also relevant to the lyrics matching the visuals, when she sings "come into my world" a new version of her walks out of the dry cleaning building, representing a new her walking into the world, this again shows the work she has put into her work to make it timed perfectly and shows that she wants to make the video understandable and enjoyable for her audience, it is mainly performance based due to the dancing and singing being the focus, showing that she is a talented artist as she is performing to her audience but there is also concept, through all the little stories going on behind her and also a story of her own life and there is concept, showing the audience she is more than a singer but an everyday person as well. This represents her as down to earth and 'normal' also it makes the audience believe it is achievable to become as successful and well-known as her as she does the same, everyday tasks she does, this makes them more likely to listen to future and past music of hers and therefore help her become more successful, as they believe that if she can become successful and she is achievable, then they can become big artists as well, making it more likely for them to want her to do well and try to follow her footsteps as an artist.


Gondry and Cunningham are both diverse with their music videos, both allow artists to show a different side to their work and personality, this allows the artist to relate with their audience and therefore makes their work publicised and creates a wider range of fans, this makes them more successful, also they both use diverse videos to create free advertising due to the audience being shocked by the content within the video or interested, the video is spread through word of mouth (people talking about the video with peers) or through it being shared on social media (twitter, facebook, etc). Gondrys videos are much less shocking and only arise the audience interest due to it being different, whereas, Cunningham has much more shocking and disturbing for the audience. Artists work with the two directors due to the huge publicity they get from it, fans of the directors will look for new videos, knowing the expect unconventional videos.


Artists choose to create diverse videos to gain publicity for nothing, it is advertised by fans as they are shocked by the content, also it shows another side to them, allowing current fans to relate to the artist more and enjoy her music even more, finally it will allow the artist to gain more fans from different genre preferences, allowing the artist to globalise and become even more successful. Although they will gain more fans and gain free advertising there are negatives, some previous fans will disengage with the artist due to not being interested in the music and this can make the artist lose their identity, also there is a chance it will flop due to not being directed at current fans, likely using a different genre they are used to. I feel that Gondrys style would fit my music videos style more as it is less disturbing and only want to interest them with a different take on my genre.