Music videos have faced censorship over the years due to offensive content. In the 1980s, videos by Queen, Duran Duran, and others were banned for depicting sexuality. The 1990s saw bans of Michael Jackson and Madonna videos. New directors in the 1990s elevated music videos to an art form. The rise of the internet and sites like YouTube made music videos widely accessible online, helping artists promote their music.

1. Censorship
&
Rise of Directors
What is a Music Video?
A music video or song video is a
short film integrating a song and
imagery, produced for
promotional or artistic
purposes. Modern music videos
are primarily made and used as
a marketing device intended to
promote the sale of music
recordings.

2. Censorship Laws
• As the concept and medium of a music video is a form of artistic expression, artists
have been on many occasions censored if their content is deemed offensive. What
may be considered offensive will differ in countries due to censorship laws and
local customs and ethics. In most cases, the record label will provide and distribute
videos edited or provide both censored and uncensored videos for an artist. In
some cases, it has been known for music videos to be banned in their entirety as
they have been deemed far too offensive to be broadcast.

3. 1980’s
• The first video to be banned by MTV was Queen's 1982 hit "Body Language". Due to thinly
veiled homoerotic undertones plus lots of skin and lots of sweat (but apparently not enough
clothing, save that worn by the fully clothed members of Queen themselves), it was deemed
unsuitable for a television audience at the time. However, the channel did air Olivia Newton-
John's 1981 video for the hit song "Physical", which lavished camera time on male models
working out in string bikinis who spurn her advances, ultimately pairing off to walk to the
men's locker rooms holding hands, though the network ended the clip before the overt
homosexual "reveal" ending in some airings. The video for "Girls on Film" by Duran Duran,
which featured topless women mud wrestling and other depictions of sexual fetishes, was
banned by the BBC.

4. 1990’s
• In 1991, the dance segment of Michael Jackson's "Black or White" was cut because it showed Michael
Jackson "inappropriately" touching himself in it. Michael Jackson's most controversial video, "They Don't
Care About Us" was banned from MTV, VH1, and BBC because of the alleged anti-Semitic message in the
song and the visuals in the background of the "Prison Version" of the video.
Madonna is the artist most associated with music video censorship. Controversy surrounding Madonna's marketing of her sexuality
began with the video for "Lucky Star", and amplified over time due to clips such as "Like a Virgin". Outcry occurred over the subject
matter (relating to teenage pregnancy) discussed in the video for the song "Papa Don't Preach". "Like a Prayer" courted heavy
criticism due to its religious, sexual, and racially-oriented imagery. In 1990, Madonna's music video for the song "Justify My Love"
was banned by MTV due to its depiction of sadomasochism, homosexuality, cross-dressing, and group sex which generated a
media firestorm.

5. 2000’s
In 2000, the music video for "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams caused controversy due to the graphic nature of the
video which featured Robbie Williams stripping naked then peeling off his skin to reveal bloody flesh, then
ripping off his muscles and organs until he is nothing but a blood-soaked skeleton. The video was censored in
the UK during daytime hours, and was broadcast unedited after 10pm. The video was banned in Dominican
Republic due to allegations of Satanism.
In 2004, Maroon 5's video for "This Love" generated controversy due to intimate scenes
between frontman Adam Levine and his then-girlfriend. Despite those particular scenes being
shot at strategic angles, a censored version was released with a stream of computer-generated
flowers added in to cover up more.

6. Rise of Directors
In November 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song
credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an
auteur's medium. Directors such as Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry, Spike
Jonze, Stéphane Sednaoui, Mark Romanek and Hype Williams all got their
start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they
directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze and F. Gary Gray,
went on to direct feature films. This continued a trend that had begun earlier
with directors such as Lasse Hallström and David Fincher.
Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of
the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael and Janet
Jackson's "Scream", which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's
"Bedtime Story", which cost $5 million. "Scream" remains the most expensive
video of all time.

7. 2005-Present Day
The website iFilm, which hosted short videos, including music videos,
launched in 1997. Napster, a peer-to-peer file sharing service which ran
between 1999 and 2001, enabled users to share video files, including those
for music videos. By the mid-2000s, MTV and many of its sister channels had
largely abandoned showing music videos in favour of reality television shows,
which were more popular with its audiences, and which MTV had itself
helped to pioneer with the show The Real World, which premiered in 1992.

8. Youtube
2005 saw the launch of the website YouTube, which made the viewing of online video much
faster and easier; Google Videos, Yahoo! Video, Facebook and MySpace's video functionality, use
similar technology. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some
artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online.
In 2009, 30 Seconds to Mars' music video "Kings and Queens" was uploaded to popular video-
sharing website YouTube on the same day of its release, where it has garnered over one hundred
million views.[35] It also received over forty million plays on MySpace. "Kings and Queens" was
featured as iTunes Store video of the week and was one of the most downloaded videos ever to
be featured.[35] The video also received four nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards,
making 30 Seconds to Mars the most nominated rock artist in VMA history for a single year.

9. Conclusion- How are music videos
perceived ?
Nowadays music videos are a powerful technique in the marketing of a record. Music
videos have become increasingly provocative and sexually based. This has been
introduced only in the last 20 years, as previous to this, music videos were present to
assist the lyrics.
The opinion on what music videos are appropriate and what videos are not, is really
dependent on the country you live in. Some countries feel that to see a sexually
charged music video is obscene and wrong, whereas another country allow for the
music video to be viewed.
Main chart artists nowadays realise that a lot of money is in the music video, so they
take advantage. But, what they don’t realise is that vulnerable age groups will be
influenced by what they see a music star do. So, it has been increasingly noticeable
that music videos have been toned down, or even had two separate videos made. One
which is suitable for all people to view and one for vulnerable people to enjoy.

10. Conclusion- How technological facilities have enabled music
videos to reach the public.
With the introduction of the internet and websites such as ‘Youtube’ it is
more and more easy to access music videos. Nowadays, someone can watch a
music video on a lot of different media platforms, including; Computers,
Laptops, Smartphones, Ipads and Tablets.
A music artists may have created their own individual channel on Youtube to
upload all their music videos for audience viewing. This means that a viewer
can log onto Youtube and instantly watch an up to date video. Websites such
as ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’ have capabilities to link or upload videos, which is
another easy way of accessing music videos.