Music Video Regulation

Music Video Regulation

BBFC regulate music videos standing for British Board of Film Classification. They regulate music videos through Age Ratings An age rating is a guidance for the audience and the guardian of the viewer to suggest whether it is a suitable film or not.

In the interview with Krissi Murison, associate editor of the Sunday Times on the Today Programme (Radio 4), she stated that "[regulation of music video] would work with the constant parental supervision but in real life I'm not convinced".
Another option is full censorship, however, censorship of music videos only promotes that song instead of deterring them from watching it, for example, The Prodigy's Smack My B***h Up (uncensored version) has 1,940,869 views where as the censored version has about 4,000 views.
A different take onto the situation is that instead of censoring everything, banning and preventing everything the other option is to just have open relationships with the children, by keeping them fully aware of the internet and the videos that it has on it, this removes the 'coolness' of censored videos by having the right amount of exposure.
One example of a banned music video was M.I.A. - Born Free probably because the video features the mass genocide of gingers. This video was banned off of YouTube and was only viewable on Vevo, this is due to its severely racist themes and tendencies within. The ideological concerns with is are racism, a crime that is contemporarily being combatted by a lot of organisations.
Another banned music video was Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, a song I had no intention of listening to, however, due to its controversy I felt obliged to watch the video to see what the fuss was all about, after the helium balloons spelling out "Robin Thicke Has A Big D**k" I realised.
Lily Allen mocked Thicke's helium balloon exhibition and spelled out "Lily Allen Has A Baggy P***y" in her song "Hard Out Here" and critics called her out on it.
Later on Lily Allen caused controversy again with her song "Our Time" as MTV wanted a clean version. Lily Allen responded.
"MTV want to ban the 'Our Time' video during the daytime, unless they get a clean edit that show you a) NOT DRINKING FROM A FLASK and b) NOT DISPLAYING ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR FROM DRINKING BY FIGHTING WITH THE HOT DOG. I told the label we are NOT making a clean version of the video."
and I stand by Lily Allen's statement, this video shows mild taboo that everyone is familiar with, this is in fact quite comical, Thicke's uncensored video isn't. M.I.A.'s version isn't. The Prodigy's video is not.

In my opinion regulation of such abundance is impossible, even though I wouldn't want my younger siblings watching the mass genocide of gingers but there is nothing stopping them from claiming to be over 18. I think the only potential solutions are 1) not hiding anything, just having the age rating as a warning but having an open relationship with the younger audiences.

Q Magazine: "Mini-Movie" Music Video

The underlying message to Q Magazine's article was that Mini-Movies are ruining Music Video.
They state that Mini Movies such as Bitch Better Have My Money  by Rihanna is "long, self-regarding, hubristic and flamboyantly expensive" to this I agree, and I also find the parallel statistics of artists who create a Mini-Movie and quickly perish in the music industry pretty humorous. The music video is just horrendous, excessively bloody just to be controversial. It makes me cringe to think that Rihanna's producers thought it was a good idea to make this video.


The article regards Mini-Movies as a last stab at regaining popularity at being different but there are not many good examples, however, saying this I really enjoyed Kendrick Lamar's Alright because it wasn't "snooty" as the article suggested others were. It's political messages and portrayal of the racial injustice in America between black people and the authorities features a hard hitting poem that ends with Kendrick Lamar being shot, inferring that whenever a Black Man stands out, is deviant to everyone else (as Kendrick flies in his video and stands on a lamppost) the policeman doesn't interact with him, he just points his finger and shoots. The video has strong messages as it initially is parallel with a narration by Kendrick Lamar and the message is amplified.


These two Mini-Movies are great examples of a good Mini-Movie and a terrible Mini-Movie. One complimenting what the article states, one contradicting it.

Mini-movies give the song a strong narrative and has the potential to have a real strong effect and message. However, the risk can turn sour and be misconstrued.