Applying for copyright

The purpose of copyright is to protect work and only allowing people to use it with the owners permission. Copyright applies to any medium, which means no-one can reproduce copyright protected work in another medium without permission of the owner. Which includes uploading photos on the internet, making a sound recording of a book, painting a photograph, uploading a song onto the internet etc. Copyright only protects work which is complete, if it is an idea copyright will not protect it, it has to be in writing that it has copyright which means you have to apply for it. A copyright piece of work can have more than one copyright, or another intellectual property (IP) right, connected to it. E.g. an album can have separate copyrights for individual songs, sound recordings, artwork etc. Copyright can protect the artwork of your logo and you could also register the logo as a trade mark. Several things copyright can protect are:
-literary works (novels, instructions manuals, computer programs)
-Dramatic works (dance, mime)
-Musical works
-Artistic works (paintings, engravings, photographs, collages, diagrams)
-Layouts or typographical arrangements (Publishing work, book for instance)
-Recordings (sound and film)
-Broadcasts (work)

In the United States, if somebody deliberately breaks copyright laws it is considered a misdemeanor in most states of America. In recent years, companies have become more aggressive to individuals who break copyright laws then ever before. There are various laws pending that may change copyright laws. Punishments for copyright go from a degree of paying a fine to imprisonment. Here are the range of consequences for breaking copyright laws:
-Young offenders can be sentences to commnity and service and education about coyright law. In 2005, in Arizona a teenager was sentenced to a fine of over £3million hours of community service and a 3-month hail term and had to stay away from file-sharing programs and had to take copyright law classes.
-If you are found guilty for infringing, the owner of the copyright material can sure you for monetary damages. Which means the guilty party could pay up to millions depending on how much the owner lost due to lack of sales for their materials.
- Willful infringement can cost someone £600 to £195,000 per each stolen work.
- Innocent infringement, is when the person brakes copyright laws without intenting to can still cost them from £195 to £97,5000.
- In some cases copyright can be taken to court in which case some judges can impose fines on individuals convicted of copyright infringement. Convited individuals can be banned from file-sharing sites or the internet by order from a judge. Repeat offenders/individuals/companies who are stealing copyrighted materials and selling them for profit can be fined up to £650,000.
- Peer-to-peer convicts can be sent to jail for up to three years. Distributors can go to jail for up to five years for a first offense and can be sentenced up to 10 years for subsequent offenses.

The email above was sent to one of Swedish House Mafias managers, which I did not receive a reply.

I had to apply for copyright because I am using a song by a worldwide artist(swedish house mafia) who are signed to Universal Music Group, therefore it would be illegal for me to use their song and make a music video for it. Copyright is very strict on music especially as music is the only thing that gets automatically copyright, so if I used an artists song without their permission there record label could take legal action against me. So ensuring that this doesn't happen I have emailed and phoned their record label to ask for copyright permission but unfortunately they have not replied.

The first step to finding out who to email for copyright permission for Swedish House Mafia's song, was to go onto their website. After getting onto their website I found out what record label they were signed to which is Universal Music Group. I went on to the Universal Music group website which is umusic.co.uk and I found an email to contact which came under media and press queries, so I have emailed them but they have not got back to be. After two weeks of no reply, I emailed them again and am waiting for a reply, but as it has been longer then a week I have called them but did not get through.

Major Record Labels

Here is a pie chart of the world music market sales share according to IFPI in 2005. It shows the four biggest record labels Universal Music Group(UMG), Sony BMG, EMI Group and Warner Music Group taking up 71.6% of music sale incomes whilst independent labels on recieved 28.4% of the shares. Also considering the fact that there are thousands of independent labels all over the world and UMG as a whole are almost making as much money as them. 


[[[[[ 1. Who are the major labels in the UK currently?

2.    Who do the major labels manage?

3.    Do the major labels own smaller companies and which artists do they manage?

4.    Are there any links within Media e.g TV/Film/Magazines etc

1.    Identify some of the independent labels in the UK and a brief history of each.

2.    What artists are signed to these labels

1.    Is it right from a music point of view as well as an industry point of view that 4 companies dominate the music industry?

2.    What affect do you think this has on the industry?

3.    Are Independent labels as successful as major labels, how do you judge this?

4.    Is there anything that independent labels offer the industry that the majors do not? ]]]]

I don't think there is an issue with four big record companies dominating the music industry because many artists that are not signed to them still become very successful.  In the music industry today most recording artist are reliant on their record labels to widen their consumer base, market their albums and be promoted and heard on the radio and television. Although as social networking is increasing in popularity and is an easy way to advertise yourself to people in quick time, great artists don't need to be signed to the biggest labels to be successful, they can gain fans by posting videos on youtube and their own music on sound cloud or myspace, also the internet is a great way to gain new audiences. Although the four big record labels may be able to create and advertise a commercial artist, the main source of money they get is from fans so if an artist signed to an independent record has an amazing album, I think via the internet and magazine they can gain just as many fans and sell as many CDs as a pop artist. 

I think that having four big record companies dominating the music industry does have an effect on smaller record companies as the big four have the most well known artists around the world they will be making the most money unlike smaller independant labels. Having four big labels does make smaller independent labels less noticable so in that sense it isn't good for independent labels. Although most independent labels sign artists with niche audience's that music will not appeal to a lot of people for example Clay Records is an independent record label founded in 1980 in England and they signed a band called Discharge whos single was distributed from the boot of his car but made it to the top 10 indie chart in the music magazine Sounds. So independent records do receive reconigtion and success with the artists and bands they sign but usually do not appeal to a large target audience so i wouldn't say the big four labels affect them that much.

Independent labels usually sign bands under the genres of more niche audiences, such as rock, indie, punk and powerpop. So for fans of these genres small independent records fill the gap well as they can supply this music.  Although I wouldn't say the independent record labels are as successful as the big four because firstly the music their artist make does not appeal to a wide target audience, also they don't have as many ways to spread the name of their artists/band around apart from the internet so they aren't as successful but there are still bands and artists which are from independent labels that are now well known for example the Artic Monkeys, Radiohead and The Kaiser Chiefs.

       Island Records are one of the most prestigious record labels in the UK but was founded in 1959 in Jamaica by a man called Chris Blackwell who started running the company with a budget of only £1000. In the early 60s Chris Blackwell relocated to London and went on to build the most diverse and enviable catalogue of any independent record label in history. The label expanded from ska and rock-steady to become the cutting edge of progressive rock in the late 60s, signing international artists such as Bob Marley and U2 and now mainly focus on pop and rock. Chris Blackwell has a unique vision and passion for music which is still used in some forms to the labels approach today. Island Records are a stand alone record in the UK but in America they operate as a division of The Island Def Jam Music Group. Some of the artists they have signed are Mumford and sons, Amy Winehouse, Akon, Blink 182, Ben Howard,  Jack Johnson, Drake and many more. 

Fierce panda records is an independent record label based in London and was founded in 1994 by Simon Williams. In 1997 Fierce panda released a sub label called Rabid Badger Records which released dance orientated music and later in 1998 they released another sub-label called Livid Meerkat to release post-rock music. They are well known for compliation albums and EPs, whose titles are mainly puns.They manage bands such as Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, The Blackout, Seafood and many more. 

 

       Apple Record label are based in London and was set up by John Lennon and paul Mcartney, they are a division of apple corps ltd, which was originally set up by Allen Klein in 1969 and later by Neil Aspinall who retired in 2007 and was replaced by Jeff Jones. Their aim is to mix business with enjoyment. Some of the artists they manage are Mary Hopkin, James Taylor and Billy Preston.

      EMI music is a British multinational music company based in London. It is the fourth largest busines group and family of record labels in the recording industry and was one of the big four record companies, which is now the 'big three'. EMI group has a major publishing arm who are EMI music publishing, which is also based in London with offices globally. EMI was a member of the Recording industry association of america (RIAA) and international federation of the phonographic industry (IFPI). When EMI first began as the gramophone company they established subsidiary operations in a number of other countries including India, Australia and New Zealand. The subsidiary labels in Austrlia and New Zealand dominated  the popular music industries from 1920 to the 1960s, until other labels like Festival Records started to come around and challlenge the near monopoly of EMI. In 1931 when EMI was formed, it opened the recording studios at Abbey Road, London which is now legendary. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s some of the artists which recorded there are Arturo Toscanini, Sir Edward Elgar and Otto Klemperer. During this period EMI took on their first A&R managers which included George Martin, who brought the Beatles into the EMI business.
      EMI were forced to sell Columbia USA as anti-trust action was taken by its American competitors. At this time the record industry had been hit hard by the depression and in 1934 a muchdiminished Columbia USA was bought for $70,500 by American Record Corporation-Brunswick Record, which also acquired the Okeh label. EMI had the rights to the Columbia name in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It continued to operate the label with good success until the 1972, when it was retired and replaced by the EMi records.
      On the 12th November 2012 EMI sold their recorded music operations to Universal Music group for £1.2billion. EMI put their publishing operations up for bid, Warner brothers company bidded £2billion but got knocked out by a sony-led consortium who bought it for £2.2billion.
     EMI manage many world wide known artists and bands of various genres of music such as Blur, Coldplay, Creed, Conor Maynard, Deadmau5, Emeli Sande, Jet, Katy Perry, Matt Redman, Nickelback, Pet Shop Boys, Snopp Dogg and many more.

      Ministry of sound are an independant British record label who were first established in 1995 with the release of The Annual, which is a compilation album of various dance tracks mixed by UK DJs Boy George and Pete Tong. The annual sold over 160,000 copies and paved the way for a now-global label with over 50 million dance albums and singles sold to date. Eric Prydz and Benny Benassi are two artist who are signed to Ministry of Sound and have won awards for their music videos and have continuing sales of over 4 million copies per annum. Ministry of Sound continue to deliver albums and singles throughout their compilation brands The Annual, Clubbers guide and Anthems. Data records are a subsidairy label of Ministry of Sound and were created to house more of their commercial dance music single releases. They have gone on to get several number 1s, top 5 and top 10 hits across the world since its inception in 1999, including Eric Prydz - Pjanoo, kid Cudi vs crookers - Day n nite, Example - Kickstart and Sidney Samsons - riverside lets go, before being renamed ministry of sound recordings and enjoying chart success with Alex Gaudino, Tim Berg and Wretch 32.
      In 2011 ministry of sound made four number one singles (DJ Fresh 'Louder', Wretch 32 'Don't Go' and Example 'Changed The Way You Kiss Me' and 'Stay Awake'), a number one album by Example 'Playing in the shadows' and a number four album Wretch 32 'Black and white'.
      Dance nation are a independant British record label and are a subsidiary of Ministry of Sound. It was founded in 2007 and were then known as Hard2Beat records, but rebranded to thier current nae in 2010. The first release from dance nation was in 2007 and was a song by Basshunter called 'Now you're gone'. In April 2009 they held Dance Nation Live an arena tour across the UK, Basshunter headlined the tour but there were other acts inlcluding sash!, Lasgo and Platnum. Dance Nation has its own customised content channel on Audiotube.

      Sony Music Entertainment(SME/Sony Music) is the second largest global record music company of the 'big three' record companies and were renamed from American record Corporation in 1991. SME is a subsidiary label controlled by Sony Corporation of America and they have officies spread over 42 countries, although the headqauters are in Ney York City. The company have a record of some of the most important recordings in history. It is home to premier record labels representing music from every genre. SME have a broad range of artists both local and international superstars for example Carrie Underwood, Michael Jackson, Karmin, Dry the River, Usher and Rita Ora and many more.

      Some of SME subsidiary record labels include Beach street records, Columbia Records, Epic records, Sony classical and Volcano.

     Warner Music Group(WMG) is the fourth biggest record label in music sales. It is an American major global music andentertainment conglomerate headquartered in New York City and are the largest American-owned music corporation worldwide. It is one of the 'big three' recording companies and they operate some of the largest and most successful recording labels in the world, including Warner Bros. Records and Atlantic records.  WMG started off as a small business in Bond Street, London selling sheet music and musical instruments the shop was called Chappell & Co who are now one of the most biggest publishing companies in the world. In 1929 Louis Dreyfus acquires Chappell & Co beginning a period of rapid expansion for the company and Jack Warner founds music publishers holding company to acquire music copyrights for use in films. In 1947 Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson found Atlantic Records. In 1958 Jack Warner founds Warner Bros. records as a soundtrack factory for Warner Bros. movie studios. Warner Bros first number one hit was by Bob Newhart's Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart. in 1970 Kinney National became Warner Communications and forms Warner-Elektra-Atlantic(WEA Corp), the first major music distribution company in the U.S., marking the origins of the Warner Music Group. Later in 1973 Warner buy Asylum records and open international offices in New Zealand. It wasn't until 1974 that the Warner Music Group had their first logo created by Saul Bass. From 1975 to 2000 they have opened offices around the world including South America and Southeast Asia. In 2000 WMG created the first library of digital downloads in the U.S. and Canada and a year later sold their music through itunes. With the help of the internet in 2002 WMG became the first major music company to deliver a comprehensive wireless music service using a leading wireless provider platform and sold their first MP3 downloads via AOL. In 2005 they recived 11.3% of the music market. In 2006 WMG buy Ryko Corporation and forms independent Label Group with the mission of empowering labels and artists in the independent music community, a year after that in 2007 WMG announces they will sell DRM-free music through Amazons MP3 music store. WMG have been named "most admired companies" by  Fortune magazines and were listed under "50 most innovative companies" by fast company magazine. In 2010 WMG announce that new revenue streams, in digital and non-digital businesses made up 40% of company revenue, which was essentially zero in 2004. That percentage means that WMG's active global recorded music roaster passes 50% for the first time. In 2011 WMG became a subsidiary label of Access Industries who bought them for £2.4 billion pounds so they are no longer a publicly-traded on the NYSE. Warner has subsidiary labels which include Asylum, Atlantic, Lava, Reprise, Rhino and Warner Bros. Some of the most successful artists they have signed are Green Day, Madonna, My Chemical Romance and Paramore. Warner's subsidiary label Atlantic have also signed successful artists such as Kid Rock, Sean Paul, Flo Rida, Trey Songz, Matchbox Twenty, Jason Mraz and Simple Plan. Lava is a smaller subsidiary label who have only signed Jessie J, Black Veil Brides and CJ Holland. Lava records is run by a man called Jason Flom who is an American music industry executive who previously worked as chairman and CEO of Atlantic records.

Bibliography

      http://www.islandrecords.co.uk/
      http://www.fiercepanda.co.uk/
      http://www.applerecords.com/
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Records
      http://www.emimusic.com/
      http://www.ministryofsound.com/
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Sound
      http://www.sonymusic.com/
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Music_Group

Analysis of music genres

Drake – over (rap)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lTB1pIg1y0

The mise en scene is a bedroom, Drake is sitting on the edge of the bed but in the center as he is the focus of the video. As the light dims at the beginning of the video Drake is still in the light.  

There are low angles shown of Drake dancing, whilst his lyrics are projected on the wall. The low angle shots make Drake seem superior not just as a person but a rap artist. This camera shot also represents Drakes as a new rap artist and the shadow represents his image. Relating this point to Dyers theory, the rap genre defines his emotions/life that he has been through. The audience would be interested in watching this as this is a typical convention and the audience are interested in learning information about him.

The video has fast pace editing and is used when the backgrounds change image from streets to fire etc. This excites the audience as it matches the lyrics and his previous life. This informs the audience that his life is moving quickly, which also establishes his style. There is a long shot silhouette of Drake which has been edited with fire effects and then there is a straight cut to a fire editing shot of him, this makes the video more interesting to watch and the fire is a cool effect which relates to rappers as they want to be seen as cool.

There are long shots of a woman in a revealing swimming costume dancing in the background during the middle to the end of the music video, she isn't seen as being an important character to the video but fits in well with the rap genre as she is dancing. Also there are mid shot of another woman dressed in gold/silver, each time she is filmed she is looking directly at the camera which the audience will be able to connect to, the way she turns around slowly portrays her as being mysterious and relates to dyers theory as the video is a rap genre which usually includes showing girls in it.

In this video the visuals match the music, for example at the very beginning of the video there is silence but when the thunder sound effects are played there is fast paced editing effects shown in drakes silhouette. The scenes shown in the silhouette represent of what’s to come in this music video, the fire conveys anger and the woman wearing gold is shown, so it could show that he is angry at the woman.

Relating to Dyers theory once more, throughout this video the lyrics match the visuals. For example Drake says ‘I’m living life right now man and this is what I’m gonna do till it’s over’ whilst there is an image of dozens of people walking around a city projected onto his bedroom walls and the to represent ‘til it’s over’ there are clouds shown which helps convey the idea that he means death or ‘til I die’.

Drake is wearing a white tracksuit with a gold chain, the chain is stereotypical of the rap genre as it conveys wealth and money, and although he is a new up and coming artist by wearing the chain it shows he is already doing well as he can afford expensive jewellery. 

Flo Rida - Club can't handle us (dance)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgM3r8xKfGE

The location of this music video is in a club, this is evident as there are loads of people dressed up, there's dancing, a DJ, flashing strobe lights and everyones hands are in the air, showing they are having a good time enjoying the music. This relates to the dance genre, as people are dancing and girls are wearing minimal clothing. It is stereotypical for females in the video to wear minimal clothing and tight fitted tops and dresses to show off their figures as they are seen more as they're significance in the video isn't very important they are seen more as background people so they have to appeal to the target audience which dance attract which is around 14-26 year olds. 

Iconography is shown in the video right at the beginning with an establishing shot shows two lamborghinis parking outside the club and Flo Rida getting out. Flo Rida is wearing sunglasses, chains, an expensive watch and he throws money up in the air, this shows his fancy celebrity lifestyle and shows off how much money he has. This is also conventional to the dance genre, as it is seen as fashionable and cool. His medallion matches his ring and looks stylish with his outfit, and he pops champagne bottles, which relates to dancing as most people especially non-professional dancers usually have a drink before they have the confidence to dance. It also shows a high life as champagne is an expensive alcohol.

There are mid shots of Flo Rida singing looking directly at the camera and he puts his wrist up to show off his expensive gold watch, conveying how rich he is and this may appeal to the target audience as they want to buy into his fabulous rick life style.

The video is made up of fast pace editing which is in sync with the song as it is fast and and has an up-beat tempo, this also relates to the dance genre as hip hop dance is full of fast moving actions similar to the editing that is used. At the beginning of the music video up to around 40 seconds in from each shot there is fade in, fade out editing, which portrays the build-up to the song and shows the mash up between the artists, the club and the main characters of the film ‘step up 3D’ which this video is partly advertising.

During the video there are midshots of David Guetta DJ-ing, this shows representation of the artist which helps conveys the fact that the mise en scene is a club because he has all of his equipment out and all clubs have a DJ. Also he is dressed casually in jeans and a white t-shirt which goes well with the dance genre and this appeals to the target audience because that is probably something they would wear as well. Also David Guetta appears to be playing the music so showing him in the video is very significant.

There is a long shot in the middle of the music video, in which the mise en scene is a street and there are dozens of people standing on the pavement watching one man dance who is placed in the center of the screen showing he is the most important subject in the shot. Also the two cars shown at the beginning of the video are either side of the dancer, this informs the audience that this is filmed just outside of the club, so it is reverting back to a mise en scene we have already watched but different actions are taking place. To conform to the dance genre there is low key lighting, which tells the audience it is late and there is an added light affect shinning horizontally through the middle of the shot, this conveys the strobe lights in the club. (1.14)

Whenever there a long shots of Flo Rida and the people in the club, Flo Rida is always in the center of the frame, which tells the audience he is most important.

Taylor Swift-You belong with me (pop)

The establishing shot is two block of flats. typically the girl admiring the boy and typically about love.
There is a close up of her looking at her admirer and we can see shes in love because of the look in her eyes, this may relate to her fans which are mainly girls so they may be in the same position as her. The video has two main locations which are two blocks of flats and a high school, there is a long shot of the sinister character in a car stopping in front of Taylor Swift and her admirer, this shot shows the sinisters point of view. This relates to Dyers theory as pop isn't a very extravagant flashy genre and all of the characters are conveyed as normal casually dressed teenagers, but the sinister character is shown more superior as she is wearing sunglasses and when she looks at Taylor Swift her head is slightly lifted and her eyes look down on Taylor. Another point which relates to dyers theory of the pop genre is that the editing of this music video is all done by using straight cuts which is very simple and straight fowardsimilar to the pop genre.
Towards the beginning of the video there is a long shot of Taylor Swift standing in front of a mirror trying on several different outfits, this relates to her target audience who are dominantly teenage girls. She is conveying a stereotype that girls always try to be someone their not just to impressive a boy, so in doing this I think her fans will connect more with Taylor as they're the "same".
The lyrics match the visuals when Taylor says 'you're on the phone with your girlfriend shes upset' it shows a mid shot of Taylors crush on the phone and there is a close up of his face which helps show the audience that he is arguing and annoyed. Later Taylor says 'sitting on a park bench thinking to myself' and whilst those lyrics play a long shot is shown of Taylor Swift sitting on a bench with her crush and the mise en scene is a park. Matching the lyrics and the visuals is important as it helps tell the story and it makes it more enjoyable for the audience also a lot of pop music videos are narrative based so showing this in the video sticks to the conventions of the pop genre.
Taylor Swifts crush is shown as quite a masculine character, there are mid shots of him playing american football and as he is one of the star characters in the music video he scores the last goal concluding his team to win, so he is conveyed as an american heroic jock. Another image to support this idea is when all of his team mates hold him up in the air to portray that he is higher up so he is better than everyone and it shows there gratitude towards him as he won the game for their team.
Near the end of the video there is a black screen which fades in and shows a mid shot of people slow dancing at a party and there is a parting in the middle as Taylor Swift enters, this portrays that she is the main figure in the music video as she is the artist. Also the lighting around Taylor is low key but there is a light shinning on Taylor which makes her stand out, especially as she is wearing a long white dress which conveys an angelic persona. There is then a straight cut to a close up of Taylors crush, who has an amazed look on his face, which tells the audience how stunning he thinks Taylor looks. It uses shot reverse shot to convey the relationship between Taylor and her crush, and the audience can see that for themselves.

Censorship and OfCom

Censorship law OFCOM

OfCom stands for the Office of Communications, which is a government-approved regulatory and competition authority for broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom was established in 2002 but received its full authority from the communications act 2003. They have control over a wide range of television, radio, telecoms and postal sectors. There aim is to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from what might be considered harmful or offensive material. The main areas Ofcom administer are licensing research, codes and policies, complaints, competition and protecting the radio spectrum from abuse.


Detailed examples from music videos
One example of a censored music video is 'make love' by Andreas a russian singer. In this music video there are sexual references, animal abuse showing a dead skinned rabbit, men dancing in skimpy outfits, chains being used on humans and inside body parts being rubed on a persons back. The dancers have eye makeup on to convey the gothic look, all of the people are dressed in black except one woman who connotes an angel as she is wearing a long white dress and has white lips, eyebrows and hair. They have fish net clothing, studded clothing, the man has scars on his body the singer is wearing a skull on his shoulder and his hair covers one of his eyes, all of these things portray evil, gothic, emo, dark neurotic environment which goes against the stereotype of a dance genre music video. During the video the singer shows the triangle sign with his hand which means that he supports the devil, this goes against many religions and morals so that may be partly why the video was censored. Also there are revealing scenes of homosexuality and this may also offend many religions and certain morals. The uncensored music video will only show on youtube after a question pops up to ask if you're over 18 and it requires you to sign into your youtube account. The only other easy way to view it is to go on andreas website and it is on the home page.

Another censored music video is the pop-rock hit called 'this love' by maroon 5 which contains intimate scenes of the lead singer Adam Lavine and his then current girlfriend, as well as these scenes it also involved lyrics with sexual connotations "I tried my best to feed her appetite / To keep her coming every night / So hard to keep her satisfied". Because of those scenes and lyrics MTV only played it after 10pm and took out the word 'coming' from 'keep her coming every night' and they took the word 'sinking' out of the line 'sinking my fingertips'. In an interview Adam says about the lyrics "Yep, that's sexual, all right. I was so sick of typical lyrics like 'Ooh, baby' and 'I love you' and all this vague shit. I thought the more explicit I got without being totally explicit was a nice approach. The little girls would enjoy them, and it would go right over my grandparents' heads."

Michael jackson 'they dont care about us' has replaces MTV replaces words with 'jew me and kike me with do me and strike me. "Jew me, sue me..kick me, kike me; dont you black or white me" Michael Jackson argued to MTV that the song used the words to describe prejudice and that it was poor judgement to select Jewish people as explanatory words.



Specific artists from the music industry

Lady Gaga is a massive worldwide artist and her music has been censored in every country she has radio play in. In Malaysia all radio stations have refused to play her song 'Born This Way' as the lyrics are "no matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian transgendered life...you were born this way" the press associates argue this because "lines in the hit song that encourage public tolerance and acceptance of gays." so as Malaysia is a muslim country being homosexual goes against their religion. Lady Gagas response was defending her music and beliefs by saying "You must do everything that you can if you want to be liberated by your society, you must call, you must not stop, you must protest peacefully.". Another major incident that happened during Lady Gagas 'born this way ball' tour was that Indonesia authorities would not let her go ahead with the concert because Islamic hardliners promised "chaos" if she entered the Muslim nation.

Ever since Rihanna's big change in the music industry in 2011 she has released more explicit material including songs 'S&M' 'We found love' 'cockiness (love it)' and 'Man Down' which have been edited on radios. Rihannas song 'S&M' was released in 2011 as a single and caused a lot of controversy with the media and the public. It was banned in eleven countries, all of the radio plays have been edited versions and the video was banned on youtube because of the sexually provocative scenes but Rihanna over came over that. On BBC radio 1 Rihanna appealed an online attack towards them for playing an edited version which did not include the songs sexually suggestive lyrics. The edited track by Rihannas label is called 'come on'.

M.I.A (Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam) hit single in 2007 "paper plans" has gunshots in the track and she wrote the song as a response to the U.S. government as they denied her visa in 2006, this song was censored by MTV and 'late night with dave letterman'. In 2010 her song "born free" was banned by youtube because of the content of the video which showed red-headed youths being rounded up and brutally murdered and showed nude scenes of people, but because of all the media and controversy the video spread worldwide across the internet.

Madonna is another artist who has had censorship issues during her career as a singer. In 1990 her music video for the song 'Justify My Love' showed sexual references in black and white of Madonna in barely any clothing, including raunchy scenes with men and women and a few scantily-clad people of questionable genders. MTV banned the video ones they got the first peek, but the controversy only picked the interest in the clip. 260,000 VHS copies of the video were sold and the song spent two weeks on the top of the billboard hot 100 chart.



Eminem debate
I don't think Eminem cares about what his music videos or lyrics convey. I watched a video about censorship on youtube and to sum up what he believes he basically says if someone is crazy enough to be lead by my videos/music they are crazy enough to do it anyway 'music is only entertainment'. He has had a rough up bringing and raised by his mum who had him at a young age so although he knows his songs may include swear words and rude connotations he wants to share his life with everyone and doesn't think there is anything wrong with that. In his music videos he has people imitating other celebrities but in a negative way, for example in 'We Made You' there are imitations of a wide range of celebrities including Jessica Simpson, Kim Kardashian, John mayer, Jenifer Aniston, Elvis Presley,  Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears, K-Fed, Lindsey Lohan, Samantha Ronson, Halle Berry, Ellen Degenres, Portia De Rossi, Sarah Palin and Jessica Alba. This is only one of his music videos which shows reference in taking the mickey out of celebrities others are 'Just Lose It'  and 'Ass Like That'. He may not care what other people think as it is his music but people who are fans of him and the celebrities he mentions may not like those songs causing less records to sell or may stop being a fan of him.



Provide both sides of debate:

Record label shady records- As it is owned by Eminem they don't have any rules for his music or music videos, I think as long as they are making money and there are still fans supporting Eminem they don't care what he does.
Kiss (radio) - Kiss have a massive audience ranging from 12-26 and everyone has access to listen to it so playing an Eminem song without censoring it may jeopardise there audience and may lose listeners.
Radio 1 (radio) - Radio 1 have a large audience from around 12+, they play a various genres of music so they do appeal to everyone somehow. As they are so big and are owned by BBC they must be strict on what they play, so all of the explicit songs have been radio edited so parents don't have to worry about they're children hearing rude words or connotations.
AKA (music channel) - AKA a british satellite television music channel who are owned by All Around The World productions. They have a niche audience for rap/urban/hip-hop/grime music so Eminems music fits perfectly into their category of artists and the audience who watch their channel will not be affected in a negative way through watching Eminems videos which include bad language and explicit scenes. Some of the other artists they play are wretch 32, Drake, Chris Brown, Cee Lo Green, Dizzie Rascal and Tinie Tempa. Aka was originally called Channel U but became rebranded in 2009 by Mushroom TV, there aim is to provide fresh and exclusive entertainment and to allow the audience to voice their opinions on videos by the power of voting, I think this is a good idea because the artists can see how the audience are responding to their music.

MTV (music channel) - MTV have a very wide range target audience so for them to play a Eminem video may harm there audience, for example the song 'space bound' Eminem gets shot in a bar and this may upset or distraught his fans or may encourage someone to do the same.
Parent of fan -If they don't want there children to listen to the music then they are in command of what they hear most of the time, but as Eminem raps about his live story they don't mind theyre children listening. Also they believe is you bring your children up well they will be fine.
Parents - "Violence, blood and weapons are unnecessary and influence a wrong message, so should not be used. Also sexual references which are inappropriate are shown such as in Eminems video 'Ass Like That' towards the end when he is in the cinema and in 'Just Lose It'  he runs down a street at night naked, which is extremely inappropriate, as it may influence children to do the same."
Fans - Fans know that censorship limits how much Eminem can express, therefore probably don't agree or like when his songs are censored. It isn't just swear words that get blurred out but sometimes by cencoring songs the whole meaning gets taken away for example in the song 'Kim' which was on Eminems album 'The Marshall Mathers' which came out in 2000. The song reflects on Eminems hate for his then-wife Kim Mathers, the song included Eminem imitating her voice and there are samples of the drums from 'When the Levee Breaks' by Led Zeppelin. The clean version which was released had been changed to 'The Kids' and the swearing is cut out.
Fan (lyrics too extreme) - "As a fan, I do like Eminems music but I think some of his lyrics are too extreme. It's fine for him to express his views and tell the story of his live as he has had a rough up bringing and he is a talented artist. But I don't think there is any need for taking the mickey out of other artists. For example in his song 'we made you' it basically takes the mickey out of loads of celebrities at the beginning there is a over weight woman imitating Jessica Simpson eating a burger and washing a car as Eminem says 'Jessica Simpson bring the chorus in' there are imitations of celebrities all the way through the video of Kim Kardashian and there are edits on her bum as she is known for having a big bum. Other lyrics taking the mickey out of celebrities are 'He does not mean to lesbian offend, but Lindsay please come back to seeing men, Samanthas a two your practically a ten' this may offend homosexuals and he is saying the Lindsay Lohans girlfriend is ugly. During the song Eminem himself imitates John Mayer by wearing a hat and casual clothes playing guitar to a Jennifer Aniston imitator and sings 'Jennifers in love with me John Mayer so sit on the bench'. There are many more examples of Eminem taking the mickey out of people throughout this song and I don't think it is necessary, also I think the songs about his life are much better. In his song 'Just lose it' he takes the mickey out of Michael Jackson by losing his nose on the dance floor, and I think this may have upset some Michael Jackson fans as he was such a big idol for many people world wide, this may have also lost Eminem some fans who are fans of Michael Jackson. In his song 'My name is' the lyrics go 'Hi kids do you like violence? wanna see me stick nine inch nails through each one of my eyelids' this may give the wrong idea to young kids, it may influence people like the two young killers of James Bulgers death to do bad things without thinking there is anything wrong with it."

Own opinion
To a certain extent I think that music videos should be censored. If the music video has fowl language or shows rude or disturbing images, I think during watershed hours on tv it should be censored but after that I don't think it should be censored because the artist has made the video how they want to express themselves and for it not to be shown on television it is taking away the freedom of expression for the artist. Although I difinitely believe that music should be censored during watershed because young children look up to many artists today and they can be easily lead by their example. So showing crime, hate and violence in a video may influence them to do the same and as much as parents can try to stop them listening or watching music videos they can't control them 24/7.
Also another point why they shouldn't be censored for example is in Eminems music video for 'space bound' he gets shot in a bar and in a video like Flo Rida 'club cant handle me' there is money thrown around going against many religions and morals and is promoting a life which is hard to achieve but shootings and dying are more realistic as they happen everyday.

When creating my own dance genre music video I have taken in to consideration the censorship law , so that I do not include any harmful or offensive material to the public. As I am aiming to follow the dance genre codes and conventions there shouldn't be a problem with disobeying the censorship law, as most dance videos are performance and concept based, they rarely show rude and inappropriate images. The song I have decided to use for my music video is 'Save the World' by Swedish House Mafia, there will be three different themes. The first theme is a night club, so these scenes will mainly show strobe lights and people dancing. The idea for the second theme is a short narrative in which a homeless man is wondering the streets of London and finds hope as someone comes along and gives him a burger. The last idea is another narrative idea in which a girl is getting ready to go out but gets mugged on her way, the thief gets run over and the antagonist gets her phone from him and dials 999 for an ambulance.   

Star Analysis

Miley Cyrus

The artist I have chosen to analyse is Miley Cyrus(Destiny Hope Cyrus) as she has shown a significant change over her singing career since she first started in 2006. Miley Cyrus’ first big breakthrough was through a show she did for Disney channel called Hannah Montana, in which she played a teenage girl with two identity’s one being a normal teenage girl and the other being a huge successful pop star. The target audience for the show was about 6-14 year olds, as it was played on the Disney channel which their target audience is also around 6-14 year olds. Her first single as ‘Hannah Montana’ is called ‘the best of both worlds’ it was also the theme song of the show. She then released her first studio album in 2008 called 'breakout' which self explains itself as she is breaking out from her young, innocently portrayed character as Hannah Montana and into a teenage pop artist. Later in 2008 Miley Cyrus' representatives wanted to introduce her to an older audience so they negotiated a deal with Nicholas Sparks to write the screenplay on the novel 'the last song' which Miley then stared in, edging more away from her young child-like image.After doing this slightly more serious film she gained an older audience which then lead on to her changing her image even more.

In 2012 the fourth and final season of hannah montana was televised and her third studio album called 'cant be tamed' was released. In the cover of the album and the music video for cant be tamed we can see a big change in her image and also the genre of the song is more rock-pop. This is the biggest change in her career. One clear change is shown between the video '7 things' the mise en scene is white, which portrays innocence  youth, newness and 'cant be tamed' which uses low key lighting and very dull colours and her outfit is all black whereas her outfit in '7 things' is very colourful with sequins.

 

 

Dyers theory "Stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings" applies to Miley Cyrus as she started on a childrens programme, in the media she is conveyed in the light her manager wants to ensure she appeals to her target audience. As she grew into her music career we can tell she is a product of her record company, because of all the various changes in her music.

In the beginning of her career she has the persona of an innocent teenager singing pop songs to an audience aged around 6-13 year olds, then when she breaks into her singing career as Miley Cyrus her outfit choices have changed to convey her as a 14-16 year old teenager, for example in her '7 things' she is wearing a sequined dress with converse, this style appeals to her young teenage audience.

Stars represent different cultural values and attitudes and promote a certain ideology. The audience percieve these qualities as 'star quality'. When Miley Cyrus released her album 'Can't Be Tamed' in 2010 Miley joined a social networking site called 'twitter' in which she can interact with her fans on and share her beliefs about anything on there aswell as sharing her music. Pop stars usually establish their character and personality through songs and performance and strive immediatly for star identity with their first album, in Miley Cyrus' case her first album 'Meet Miley Cyrus' identified her as a typical young teenager as her album is about friendship and love. Her second album 'Breakout' shows a different persona to Miley as she is more grown up and has come completely out of her 'Hannah Montana' identity. Miley's thrid studio album 'Can't Be Tamed' shows a totally different persona as she conveys herself more as a young adult as her clothes are more revealing, she wears a lot more make up and darker make up to make her look more gothic. So Mileys star persona is changed due to terms of her chracter and personality and is a fragiled thing that needs continuous developing
A pop star's persona, therefore, as depicted in terms of character and personality, is a fragile thing which needs constant nurturing, and is the product of constant discourse between the star and his or her audience.

 

Best of both worlds – Hannah Montana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVjRe8QXFHY

This video is one of Miley Cyrus first performances and is in the pop genre. She is wearing  jeans, cowboy boots, a sparkly pink top with cream sleeves and a blonde wig. The blonde wig is used as a prop which helps disguise her as Miley Stewart in the programme. She is performing as 'Hannah Montana' and singing about her double life as a popstar and a regular teenage girl "when your famous it can be kinda fun, it's really you but no one ever discovers".  Her clothes convey the pop genre, she is fully covered and looks very youthful and fun with the bright pink top, also the cowboy boots convey her heritage as she is from Tennessee. During this video there isn't much notion of looking, although she does point towards the crowd whilst singing. I think this video is performance and narrative based, as she is performing on stage but through her lyrics she is telling the story of her life as a teenage girl/popstar. This video uses a lot of medium paced straight cuts, which go with the beat of the song and there are some tilted camera shots which make the video more playful. All of the audience members are predominantly young girls which show the target audience she aims to attract and the whole video portrays her as as perfect role model which Disney want her to be. She relates to her target audience as she is wearing similar clothing as they might and because she has a double life the audience can connect with her as a regular person. 
Many of the pop genre conventions Miley Cyrus portrays in this music video are that it's aimed at young girls and we can tell because all of the audience are girls between 9-13, her dancing is innocent and young, the song was written for a childrens show, so it's quite cheesy.
An example of Ruichard Dyers star theory shown through 'Hannah Montana' is that this persona has been created by a a television show so it is a fiction character, but as she has become so popular she has done a tour as 'hannah montana'. Throughout Miley Cyrus' 'Hannah Montana' fase she was produced as a teen pop sensation to appeal and appear as a role model to her target demographic who are children, that is why she was dressed in jeans, sparkle tops and jackets with cowboy boots, to convey her country lifestyle mixed with fashionable girly clothing. Mixing laid back jeans with glamorous sparkly clothing also allows Miley to relate to her fans as she is not dressed innapropraitly and her target audience would be able to copy her clothing. Miley has been dependant on her television series to be able to do a tour as 'Hannah Montana' and this will help her in the future to come out as a singer under her own name.

7 Things – Miley Cyrus   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr0Wv5DJhuk

This video came out in June 2008 and was

Miley Cyrus’ first Debut hit as herself not Hannah Montana. She is 15 years old in this video, whereas in the best of both worlds video she was 13. So 2 years on she has shown a lot of changes between both music videos and '7 things' has a more mature approach as its about her relationship and being in love in reality rather than singing about having a double life in a tv series. In the 7 things music video she is stepping out of being Hannah Montana and by doing so she has widened her target demographic and reached a slightly older audience up to around 16 year olds. Although at this point episodes of Hannah Montana were still airing on television so her fan base from 2006 were still supporting her at this point. Her music genre has gone from cheesy pop to rock-pop and to appeal to her new larger audience her hair and make-up are both made to look very natural and lightly done, although she has slightly more eye make up on than the best of both worlds video, she is wearing eye liner and fake eyelashes, which not only give her a rock/pop look but also make her appear older. She is wearing a sparkly sequinned dress with converse and leg warmers, portraying a young, playful, edgy style, showing off a lot more skin than the ‘best of both worlds’ music video but still keeping it at a respectful level. Similar to the best of both worlds she is still trying to connect and relate to her target audience so she is wearing similar clothes they would wear and showing off a different fashion, also she is singing about puppy love which her audience may be able to relate to. During the video she looks straight into the camera which enables her to connect with the audience on a more personal level. Another big way she is connecting to her target audience is that she has girls around the same age as her performing in the music videos miming the lyrics to her song. I think this is a way she is showing what she has in common with other teenage girls/her fans and shows they're the same and how they can relate to each other.Similar to the best of both worlds video, this video is performance and narrative based but with a slightly more serious side to it but still sticks within the pop genre codes and conventions.  

The lyrics and visuals match, there are close ups to show her aggressive facial expressions which conveys her hate for the person that broke her heart. She is showing that she is being dominant as the lead singer in the video because at the very beginning of the video there is a close up of her counting down to being the song. The dynamics of the music go well with the visuals, at the beginning its all fairly quiet and it shows close ups and mid shots of Miley Cyrus and the other girls, but when it hits the chorus it gets much louder and there are long shots of Miley Cyrus dancing and her body language suggests anger and hatred. In this video there are more pop/rock genre conventions as most rock music videos are fully performance based and so is this as there are shots of her and her band playing guitars and drums. There are also more close ups and mid shots of the band which shows more importance for the whole group rather than all of the attention being on Miley Cyrus. The mise en scene is a plain white room, conveying innocence and because of the high key lighting you can see the bands silhouettes which looks quite cool.

This video represents youthfulness and talent, as Miley is dressed in a casual sequened dress with leg warmers and converse, also she wrote the song herself and as the video is all performanced based it shows the talent of her band. In this video Miley has been constructed to appeal to a slightly older target audience than she already has, this was her first single as herself not 'Hannah Monatana', so in her video you can see she is appropraitly dressed to suite her target audience and the pop genre. In this video she demonstartes one of Dyers first key paradox, which is that she is a normal role model in her day to day life, but she has a talent which is singing and song writing.

Can’t Be Tamed-Miley Cyrus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjSG6z_13-Q

This video came out in May 2010 and was a big change from her previous video and a big change in the image she portrayed before. This was the biggest change in her career so far, she changed her pop genre and image into a pop-rock genre and this is shown throughout the video. Unlike the other two videos this one is definitely more concept and performance based, I think the main message she is trying to convey is that no man or boyfriend can change the way she is and she is her own person and a very dominant woman so what she says goes, and these are all portrayed in her body language, her lyrics and her music. In this video Miley Cyrus plays a rare species of a bird. To convey the pop-rock genre the video has mainly low key lighting, Miley has a lot of heavy eye make up on, she is in dressed in metallic colours like the black leather leotard and the shiny silver leotard. The performance and outfit is a lot more provocative than before, which got a lot of criticism from media because although she now appeals to an even older audience up to about 17 her perfect innocent Disney star image has been ruined.
Her dancing in this video is a lot more provocative than her dancing in her previous videos, showing she wants to be seen as a sexy womanly figure now. As well as minimal clothing near the beginning of the music video she puts her leg up on the bird nest in a provocative way and this shows her new target audience may also be males rather than just females. The minimal use of close ups, dark scenes showing different parts of her and a man and the  fast pace editing convey the fierce, sexy, rebellious character she is playing. The editing matches the music, it is full of fast pace straight cuts which compliments the song nicely as it is up beat, fast tempo, and she is singing in a angry emotion. The lyrics also match the visuals, she says 'if your gonna be my man understand I cant be tamed, I cant be changed' and clearly in the video she is breaking out of the cage and everyone is outraged and scared, she begins the walk through the halls with other people dressed as weird exotic birds and some of the lyrics are 'Tell you to go to hell' 'im crazy if you holf me back i might explode' which not only are conveyed by the actions she makes in the video but also convey the rock genre she is trying to establish. There is an example of voyeurism half way through the video when Miley Cyrus is lying in a silver leotard in a bed of peacock feathers and her body language is very flirty.
I think her record label may have asked her to have a big breakout of change as her show was coming to an end and she needed a new target audience who she could make music for not act in Hannah Montana and as she was growing up to the bigger the change the more the media would talk about and the more her song would be heard and talked about.
In this video Miley Cyrus shows a lot of common representations of a star from Dyers theory such as rebellion, sexual magnetism, creativity and aggression  This is her first video which shows all of these aspects and I think she has been constructed to portray this new rebellious image to get rid of her youthful, innocent image. This new image will benefit her as she will gain a new target audience, I think this particular music video definitely attracted a older audience around 14-17 year olds. But as she started off her career with fans younger than her and around the same age I believe that a lot of them stuck with her even till now and as she grew up her fan base grew up with her, as well as attracting a new slightly older audience. Since the beginning on Miley Cyrus' career her fan base has increased but when she released this song 'Can't be tamed' I think some fans didn't like it but I definitely think Miley gained a new target audience, therefore she didn't lose out by changing her image and music genre completely. There are many examples throughout her video, for example the clothing she wears looks very expensive and is much more revealing than her previous videos. The close ups of her face generally show her agressive, angry side. Also Miley Cyrus has been in various magazines but by totally changing her image in this video will get all of the tabloids talking about her so this is a way she can receive more press about her new single and album. Relating to Dyers theory, this video is based on one of two of his key paradox, which is to be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer, so there was 10 months inbetween Mileys single 'party in the USA' and 'Can't be Tamed'.