So, currently no one single body takes responsibility for regulation, control and censorship of new media in the UK.
Basically this theory stems from a fear of the mass media, and gives the media much more power than it can ever have in a democracy. Also it ignores the obvious fact that not everyone in an audience behaves in the same way.
At some point in the past, the video for "(s)AINT" by Marilyn Manson was banned by that artist's label due to its violence and sexual content. In 2008, Justice's video for their song "Stress" was boycotted by several major music television channels due to allegations of racism and violence; the video depicts several youths committing various crimes throughout the streets of Paris, with the youths mainly being of North African descent.
In conclusion, music videos have been banned along the years for all sorts of reasons: religion, nudity, violence, drugs etc. One thing needs to be said: the fact that a music video gets banned doesn’t mean it has a poor artistic assessment of worth, it plainly means that the message is inappropriate to be broadcasted on national television.
There are many technological options parents can use to prevent their children from seeing inappropriate music videos. There is now a special microchip in most TV's that allows parents to control the content of what they allow their children to watch. Satellite and cable receivers also have a chip that blocks specific channels and programs. This allows parents to control the content of what music videos they allow their children to watch.
Rap does have a dark side though. The violence and obscenities in rap lyrics do at times seem to serve no purpose at all. "Violence is glamorized, and the debasement of women is celebrated, often in the most graphic and obscene terms”
Gangsta rap is a form of entertainment like any other. Some of its purveyors may use words or imagery that portrays certain criminal acts, but that is because they reflect the culture from which it spawned. Critics miss the subtleties of rap music, in which the rapper often takes on a particular persona in a song and so does not necessarily endorse the views or actions it portrays; rap fans are well aware of these ambiguities. Violence and criminality are also endemic in other forms of entertainment, for example opera and classic films often contain large-scale killing and violence.
Without any doubt, censorship does not help music. Hip-hop, punk or rock, are music genres that actually "speak from the streets". The explosion of hip-hop culture and its dominance on the system was similar to what happened in the UK in the mid-70s with punk. Only then, it was not about the black youth.
The generational value gap continued in the 1970s and 1980s, when heavy metal rock and rap music were particular targets of moral authorities. A Prince album caused controversy at a 1984 PTA meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Sparrow) The incident helped spark the debate for government censorship of music. The National Coalition on Television, which monitored the level of violence in music videos, asked for the federal government to regulate rock music on television.
Censorship for music is just taking those words and phrases out of the song when it’s played on the radio. The songs played on the radio are called "Radio Edits" and are only played on the radio. The original versions can be found on the CDs of the artists and on iTunes and amazon. Most songs are labelled whether they are explicit, meaning containing the words and phrases, so you know if you're buying the version you want.
Consumers have learned to live with all sorts of semi-voluntary censorship, including the film rating system, the F.C.C.’s regulation of broadcast media and the self-regulation of basic cable networks. Hip-hop fans, in particular, have come to expect that many of their favourite songs will reach radio in expurgated form with curses, epithets, drug references and mentions of violence deleted.
I believe that censoring hip-hop did nothing more than flaming more opposition and more open reality. Music can, by no means, create violence. Music simple reflects social realities. Hip-hop is real music for real people. No censorship can change that.
On the other hand, musicians would certainly argue that they are not entirely responsible for actions others take as a result of listening to their lyrics. Companies who produce rap music are reluctant to censor this industry as rap music is a $12 billion a year business in the U.S. music market. To narrow this example down further, rap music accounts for 7.9% of Time Warner's music sales. With that much income coming in from rap music sales, Time Warner Music is reluctant to censor it. Music producers feel that society places all the blame on the violent or profane lyrics to take the responsibility away from itself.
It would be difficult to argue that these attempts at censorship have hampered record sales, given the astonishing success of Kanye West, Ludacris, Outkast, and many others during the past decade. But it does appear the combination of a wider audience and vociferous attacks on the music has rendered rap a little simplistic. Historic examples of censorship backfiring are numerous, making efforts to cripple rap music by restricting access all the more puzzling. However, most censorship advocates are unmoved by the lessons of history.
Tupac directly attacks the demand for censorship coming from the politicians. In his song “Rebel of the Underground” he states that:
They tryin to keep me out
Try to censor what I say
cause they don't like what I'm talkin bout
So what's wrong with the media today?
(Tupac, “Rebel of the Underground.” 2Pacalypse Now,1991).
Grime doesn’t need to be shot down completely, but most certainly censored, with kids admiring these artists, the artists that don’t know fact from fiction actually running the underground scene morally it’s like the blind leading the blind.
Jennifer Copley reports that studies link rap videos to children having a positive view on violence and criminal activity. Although Copley recognizes that some rap videos have very violent themes, she notes that teenage fans are exposed to many different themes in rap, including opposition towards violence. The lyrics and video for Coolio's 1995 smash hit "Gangsta's Paradise," for example, deplored violence. The song criticizes the gangster lifestyle, particularly in the verses, "Tell me why we are so blind to see/That the ones we hurt are you and me."
One study found that young subjects who watched violent rap videos were more accepting of violent actions, particularly against women. Additionally, those who watched either violent or nonviolent rap videos were more inclined to express materialistic attitudes and favour potentially acquiring possessions through crime, as well as holding more negative views on the likelihood of succeeding through academic pursuits.
Teens who spend more time watching the sex and violence depicted in the "reel" life of "gangsta" rap music videos are more likely to practice these behaviors in real life, suggests one of the first studies to specifically explore how rap videos influence emotional and physical health.
Do scenes like these suggest that music videos are encouraging their viewers to indulge in criminality? Senior members of the Metropolitan Police think so. They have laid the blame for a surge in violence in recent years outside club nights – particularly East London events associated with grime, the British rap genre – on videos showcasing violence and thuggery.
