Censorship - Eminem

Censorship of music is when a country can stop a song or video from being broadcast on the radio or Television. In the United Kingdom the Minister of Information has an approved regulatory authority called Ofcom which looks across television, radio, telecoms and postal sector which they look at all media forms and judge whether it should be banned due to racism, language, morals or events which in the interests of the British citizens and consumers might find harmful or offensive. The look through all complaints by viewers or listeners of media forms of which are produced in films, music or music videos. This means that music artists have to make a piece of work which doesn’t break the barriers otherwise it will be stopped for example Rihanna cause controversy with her music video ‘We Found Love’ which included Drug smoking, shoplifting, gambling, sex and drinking alcoholic drinks which meant that it was banned from the mass audience and could only be viewed with permission.

The Rap genre artists push the barriers because a lot of their music is representing and showing the audience the life or a story which has affected. This means that for example Eminem says that its freedom of speech and entertainment which shouldn’t be taken seriously but show what people go through in their lives, he believed that if someone takes the music he produces enough to act on a selected song then they would do so anyway. Also, if parents look after their children and show them guidance of how to not live your life or drugs, sex and drinking then society wouldn’t be affected by the popular music genre.

Shady Records is Eminem’s Record Label of which he founded so that he has no risk of losing a contact due to things included in a music video and he can say what he wants because he owns the label and he is very popular with high sale revenue for the style of music he produces.

The music videos he produces normally push the boundaries of all other mainstream Rap artists due to the Record Label, this means that Music Channels like MTV have to encourage positive issues and not harmful things to society of which means that they don’t play his videos on a regular basis or skip them in the Chart songs because due to MTV having a large range of target audience of all genres selected words may offend and loose the channel viewers. This is different to AKA music channel which only show the Rap Genre music which is a Niche market of the music industry but has a large amount of viewers. This means that the channel regular can show the videos because he is a massive mainstream artist of whom lots of people want to watch and listen to his material.

Radio stations are similar to music channels however, the artist like Eminem and Cee-Loo Green make Radio edits so that it can be listened to by all the audience of the radio. This means that parents don’t have to worry about the radio influencing what might come out to a child’s mouth without them knowing the meaning. Additionally, the station might lose viewers unless they have a clean version due to the large amount of ages and target audience which listen to stations like Radio 1, Capital FM, Heart or Magic. This is different to stations like Kiss or kerrange who have a small target audience due to it being a Niche Market to that the station as a large amount of boundary breaking issues due to what the target audience want to listen to on the radio.

Eminem is typically aimed at a teenage audience with many of his target audience finding him popular, of which they might think that censorship doesn’t let the artist express their emotions and that the audience cant connect with the artists thoughts. This suggests that it will decrease popularity for his music because people wont believe his meaning in the music video. On the other hand, many of his audience believe that he has good music and this is shown by the mount of awards he has achieved but doesn’t need to talk about celebrities or issues which may offend many with hidden meanings with reference to looks, religion, beliefs or personally. This suggests that the artist’s music can be popular without the need to include inappropriate comments which means that it causes negative impression to the album and can cause problems with the sales revenue or popular of a selected song due to a small amount of narrative.

Eminem can be looked at as a role model not due to his language or style of inadequate music videos but that it doesn’t matter where you come from you can still entrain and become famous even if you have a criminal record or a poor life style e.g. failed at school, family died or signal parent. This means that he is a role model for all people that have no achievements or ambitions, which they wish to be successful in the music industry.

The target audience of Eminem’s material are normal teenagers due to the songs narrative being rebellious of which the audience want to be like, this means that most parents will be mostly against Rap genre music including Eminem’s material of which implies that the language and visuals are unnecessary for not needing to do so, which might cause them copy language or copy what he does in the visuals of the music videos such as space bound when he shoots himself or talking about committing suicide. However, parents may believe that they are only lyrics and a video of entrainment which shows the life of someone with nothing, if you bring up your children correctly then it won’t affect them but improve the way people act and other lives which haven’t been so easy in society and the community.

Another example of a band which has had their music censored is The Killers song 'Mr Brightside', which includes a large amount of adult language and humor. This means that they produced an additional radio edit which wasn't exploit to appeal to the younger audience and so that it could be listened to on the radio. As a result of the songs narrative and visuals being censored it led to being Number 1 in the UK Indie Charts. Therefore, if a song is censored it is likely to be more successful in the market but don't convey fully what the artist was trying to represent in the music video.



Overall, the artists which produce material which has a large amount of offensive or harmful issues has many different opinions whether it should be promoted due to it being seen by people it might offend or change in society. Therefore, in the UK the Government have Ofcom which regulate and censor all material from artists like Eminem or Rihanna.I think that all of the music industry should apply to censorship because I believe that a lot of the music material which is produced in the 21st Century they have become very explicit. This can be dangerous for society and the younger community because music artists are now role models and using bad language, drugs, drink and sex means that ideas, beliefs and traditions change.