Research Into Music Cencorship

Do you think music Videos should be censored?

Ofcom is a Tv and radio regulator fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate. They keep people from harmful and hurtful information. A famous example of people being offended from something broadcasted is Roni from eastenders she stole a baby and the country didn’t take the storyline well and ofcom received 8million letters of complaint, as well as abuse being giving to the actress Samatha Womack. From this they had to re-film episode and the actress decided to leave.

In class we had a debate on Eminem and the subject he rap about, and what he shows in his music videos. We looked at both sides of the argument and how it affects the view, we saw that he is being artist in his eyes but from a parents point of view he is being a bad role model. The music channels see it as the artist expressing them self and as long as they have views they don't care, but Eminem has admitted to recording a clean version of his songs for his daughter, this is confusing for a parent because you would think he would want the same for others children. Overall it is up to the parent on what they show their child and an artist shouldn't change because of the though of children following their acts.

M.I.A’s Born Free

Some artist make videos that are banned one that was shown to do this was M.I.A’s ‘Born Free’ with the video having genocide towards Ginger people this made it banned from youtube in both UK and US but at the same time made free advertisement for it. It showed scenes of a young child being shot in the head with nothing edited out which is not allowed to be shown to younger children. Also they are being forced to run across a minefield, where someone is blown up, with limbs flying across the screen. This could be disturbing to a younger child and most adults. This video also included drugs, guns and nudity. The meaning of this video is to bring up situations in other countries and making them more relevant to her fans and some of the press. This video was made for a good reason to make people aware of world wide situations but could also be said as a publicity stunt to give the artist more popularity. 

Rihannas SNM
This song was banned from T.V. all together for being to purgative, with scenes of whipping and sex toys, it was not only banned from broadcast but also youtube. But in an interview Rihanna said she was shocked because she was naked in the video umbrella but no one made any thing of it. The lyrics have been changed on the radio stations to be allowed for airing for younger listeners. 

Research Into Music Channels & Target Audiences

MTV is a world wide company but also one of the most famous music channels in the world, its target audience being young adults and teenagers, playing mainly pop music. Its is important for them to have a target audience so they know who they are aiming to please with what songs playlist and shows  they are airing. They mainly play 'The Top 40' best selling songs of the week meaning they can listen to the most relevant music, and they also play new tracks between songs meaning they can get the newest song out in one place, because of it being an american channel it is mainly artist that are big in america played and who get there own mini shows E.G. top 10 singles of Rihanna or Beyonce and Eminem . Some of the most played songs at the moment are Miley Cyrus 'We Can't Stop'  Robin Thicke 'Blurred Lines' and Rihanna 'Stay', all these songs are are some of the most downloaded of the year, this maybe because their target audience buy the most music from all of the age groups. This is a good thing for the company meaning they get more viewers then any other channel, this maybe also be because it was the first music channel.  MTV are also famous for having tv shows like Pimp my ride and Awkward and shows into artist lives like Neyo and Ke$ha, all these shows appeal to a younger audience which is there target audience. A They also own other channels like VH1 and nickelodeon. With there wide range of  channels e.g. MTV2 and MTV hits they have a large share of the industry. They have used a bold 'M' to show that they are a about music and that they are serious about it, but then used spray paint on TV so that they can appeal to the younger generation.

Kiss was originally a radio station called Kiss 100 but has recently expanded to having a TV channel Kiss their target audience is more young urban.The artist regularly played on kiss are more pop but they mostly play Drake, Jay Z and Tinie Tempah. With most played songs Rihanna 'Where Have You Been', Eminem 'Love The Way You Lie' and Justin Timberlake 'Suit and Tie' Due to high listeners to there kisser playlist they have expanded and made a channel just for this playlist, which is called Kisstory their target audience is an older generation  with music from 3-15years ago, this is targeted for older listeners who remember these songs.  They do lots of promotional things to get the younger audience involved tweeting, competitions and calling in. By having a set target audience Kiss can have presenters that will get the audience interested and DJs that will play the right music. They have a calm logo With curvy writing to show that theres nothing serious about the channel. 

4music is one of many 4 channels with it being a big company it can show concert like V festival and Itunes festival with its target audience being 15-25, it also shows reality show likes Keeping up with the kardashians, this is more of a bubble gum pop tv channel for young teens. With its Pink logo and cheesy music with no doubt they have a younger audience, yet the later at night it gets they change there target to clubbing music and electronic for people getting ready to go out at night. Some of the most played songs on this channel is Lady Gaga 'Applause', Ed Sheeran 'Lego House' and Pink 'Blow Me'. They also have morning shows which tell the audience show biz news and facts on artist regularly played. 

Vevo may not be a music channel but it is the most used way to watch music videos recently only recently getting more views then MTV, it has most of the artists putting there videos on there. It was launched the 8th of december 2009 using most of the main music company's to make them the music number 1 music website. With some of its most watched videos being from Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Lady Gaga. It does adverts on every video which could be for another video or a artist branding, this is a very affective way to advertise to a audience that would be interested in the product. 

What Is a Music Video?

Music videos are made to promote an artist and give the audience more information on the artist, this can lead to profit and raise sales in their music. An example of this is the single 'love the way you lie' it was in the charts for 3weeks in the top ten but once the video had come out it went straight to number one. There are 3 different areas in music videos narrative, performance and concept. Performance would be the artist singing or dancing, while narrative would be them telling a story sometimes showing the meaning to the lyrics, concept is a meaning or though that is shown though out the video. Narrative and performance are both used in this video with the hurtful love shown between the actor as well as the rapping and visual affects. 

The music video for ‘Love the way you lie’ by Eminem was one of the most watched music videos with 160,000,000 view just in 2011, it also had the most views within 24 hours on Vevo. The video stars Megan Fox and Dominic Monagham in a love-hate relationship, also including Rihanna singing the chorus by including a global superstar like Rihanna a new rang of people will be buy and viewing the videos because of Eminem and her having such different types of fans this made the video widely popular. From this the purpose of this music video was to promote the single and its origin, aiming to show the brutality of a relationship, with events of the house burning and violence. Other ways of promoting the video was Megan Fox giving her video proceedings to a womans shelter with this making new making the video ever so popular. With this being a rap/pop video the target audience is wide so they have to get most people interest that is why they have made it high budget but also look more relatable to the normal life style. 

The style of this music video was fast cutting with no product placement with this, it was also high budget with many different scenes. By having A star actors within the video making it more appealing. The setting is in a deteriorating house showing him to be an urban artist also reflecting on the relationship between the characters, this also reflects on the artist image with him wanting not to seem like a pop star and more urban so that he still keeps his fans interested. 

The genre of this music video is rap, rap is normally surrounded by advertisement e.g. Dr. Dre, this music video breaks the convention by having no product placement by doing this it shows that he has enough money to be able to do this or he’s going alone. This idea is backed up by him having an A listed actors to be in his video and having Rihanna who is a worldwide artist. A normal rap video would have beautiful woman dancing around as well as expensive cars and the look of a riche life style. This video has broke the conventions by having it more about the words and the meaning. This is his way of making his video look deep and meaningful instead of shallow. The target audience maybe argued pop with Rihanna and the meaning behind it. A rap video wouldn't normally have high budget on special affects with the use of fire surrounding the actors and burning down a house. Even though this video is mainly rap it is also pop for a pop video they have used violence which is not conventional because it is not wanted from parents for their children to watch. It is also not glamourise is anyway, which in a pop video or rap video they would make a vision of the high life giving the audience an insight on the high life, this has been done so that the audience can connect to the artist and the song more, making it seem like a more life like situation.

From this music video I have seen what things what makes a good music video, but also what makes it appealing to the audience, with it having good looking woman, danger and a story. If I could I would have high paid actors but this can't happen and also I would use high special affects. I think the main thing to have is something the audience can relate to, this will keep them watching and interested. Also I will aim to plan to shock the audience within my video so that they will leave with a though in their head. This has helped me plan many ideas and guided me on what are the main aspects of a music video.