Music+Censorship+(Anita)

"Censorship ." Web.23 Apr 2009.<[]>.


 * Censorship is when the government, be it state, federal, or local, attempts to restrict what type of music can be purchased, played, or distributed in your community. AH
 * take many forms such as parental advisory labels, banned concerts, banned cover art, rating systems, legislative bills/laws, and banned clothing AH
 * Organizations that are involved in music censorship and labeling albums are
 * radio stations
 * MTV
 * companys such as Walmart
 * organizations such as the Parents' Music Resource Center (PMRC) AH
 * __BMI__ Broadcast Music, Inc. was founded 60 years ago on the idea that all songwriters, composers and publishers have the right to be paid for the use of their intellectual property no matter how that property is used. AH
 * __ASCAP__ The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is a performing rights organization which licenses and collects royalties for performance of its members` music. Contains a database of music in the repertory and information about membership. AH
 * __SOCAN__ The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada is a copyright collective for musical works, protecting the performing rights of their members and members of their international affiliated societies. AH
 * __IFPI__ International organization fighting music piracy and promoting fair market access and adequate copyright laws. Includes piracy news, market info, publications, and copyright FAQ. AH
 * __SESAC__ The Society of European Stage Authors and Composers is a performing rights organization, with headquarters in Nashville and offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. Designed to represent songwriters and publishers. AH
 * __CISAC__ The International Confederation of Authors and Composers Societies was founded in Paris, France in 1926. It is a non-governmental, non-profit organization, which regroups some 200 author societies in 98 countries. AH
 * Havergal Brian Society Official site. Diary of his life, listings of compositions, and society activities. AH
 * __IMRO__ The Irish Music Rights Organisation is the national body administering performing rights in copyright music in Ireland on behalf of its members and on behalf of the members of 67 overseas societies affiliated with it. AH
 * __ISA__ The International Songwriters Association has been serving songwriters, lyric writers, music publishers and the songwriting business since 1967. AH
 * International Association of Music Information A world-wide network of organizations promoting new music, active in thirty-six countries. Each center is responsible for documenting and promoting the music of its own country or region. Includes basic association information. AH
 * In 1997, the Louisiana house bill 1236 was introduced to prevent the sale of music containing lyrics considered harmful to minors. AH
 * "Harmful" was defined as being any "record, album, cassette, CD, tape, recording, etc. that advocates rape, prostitution, homicide, unlawful ritual acts, suicide, the commission of crimes because of the victim's race, gender, color, religion, or national origin, the use of controlled dangerous substances, or the unlawful use of alcohol". AH
 * Any music that fell under those categories was required to have a label stating the material's objectionable content AH
 * The Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the Federal Communications Commission to issue guidelines for the labeling of sexual, violent or mature materials unless the entertainment industry agreed to a system of self-imposed labeling AH
 * This is where we got our labeling laws. AH
 * 1955-15,000 letters, mostly written by young adults, are sent to Chicago rock stations accusing them of playing "dirty" records. Radio station WABB runs editorials call "About The Music You won't Hear on WABB." The editorials promise that the station will censor itself of all controverisal music, especially rhythm and blues AH
 * 1955 -In one week’s time during April, Chicago radio stations receive 15,000 complaint letters protesting their broadcast of rock music as part of an organized campaign. The letters call for the station to remove controversial songs from their play lists. Variety runs a three-part series on what they term “lee-ics” or R&B sons, with obscene lyrics, calling for censorship for the recording industry. The articles compare these songs to dirty postcards and chastise the music industry for selling “their lee-ic garbage by declaring that’s what kids want.” AH
 * **1958 -**The mutual Broadcasting System drops all rock and roll records from its network music programs, calling it “distorted,monotonous, noisy music.” AH
 * January, 1959 -Link Wray’s instrumental classis “Rumble” is banned from radio stations across the U.S. – even though it has no lyrics. The title of the song is thought to be suggestive of teenage gang violence. When Wray performs on American Bandstand, Dick Clark introduces him but doesn’t say the title of the song AH
 * **February 1964-**Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh asks the State Broadcasters Association to ban the song Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen because he considers it to be pornographic.AH
 * **1966 -**In March, John Lennon comments that the Beatles are more popular with teens that Jesus Christ. The observation leads to Beatle record burnings and bans from radio play around the country. In March, the Beatles release their “Yesterday and Today” album with the “Butcher cover” (featuring the Beatles sitting with pieces of meat and decapitated baby dolls). The record company quickly withdraws the record from stores and replaces it with an innocuous photo of the band.AH
 * **1968 -**An El Paso, Texas radio station bans all record by singer bans all records by singer Bob Dylan because it is too difficulty to understand the lyrics. The station management fears that the lyrics may contain offensive or lewd messages. However, the station continues to play recordings of other artists covering Dylan’s song. During the National Democratic Convention, Chicago mayor Richard Daley orders local radio stations to avoid playing the Rolling Stones’ single “Street Fighting Man” in anticipation of rioting that occurred during the convention. The plan backfires, and airplay and sales of the single reach record-setting proportions in Chicago.AH
 * **April, 1971-**Officials in Illinois release a list of popular music that contains drug references. The list includes the popular children’s son “Puff the Magic Dragon” and the Beatles “Yellow Submarine”AH
 * **1973-** The Supreme Court announced a new Obscenity test that would allow local communities to set their own censorship standards and than would relive prosecutors of the burden of proving that a work charges as obscene is “utterly without redeeming social importance. AH
 * Miller v. California
 * Does the material depict or describe specific sexual or excretory activities or organs in a “patently offensive manner”
 * Would the average person, applying “contemporary community standards, “find that the material, takes as a whole, appeals predominantly to a “prurient” interest in sexual or excretory matter?
 * Does the material take a whole, lack “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value?
 * **January 1957-**The Supreme Court finally confronted the obscenity issue in 1957 Roth vs. United States, Justice William Brennan wrote for the Court;Producers of The Ed Sullivan show inform he camera crew that they are only to show Elvis Presley from the wais up during the hard and final appearance show. Elvis’s dancing is considered lewd.Congress considers that legislation requires song lyrics to be screened and altered by a review committee before being broadcast or offered for sale. AH
 * **1958 -**The mutual Broadcasting System drops all rock and roll records from its network music programs, calling it “distorted,monotonous, noisy music. AH
 * January, 1959 -Link Wray’s instrumental classis “Rumble” is banned from radio stations across the U.S. – even though it has no lyrics. The title of the song is thought to be suggestive of teenage gang violence. When Wray performs on American Bandstand, Dick Clark introduces him but doesn’t say the title of the song. AH
 * **February 1964-**Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh asks the State Broadcasters Association to ban the song Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen because he considers it to be pornographic.AH
 * **1966 -**In March, John Lennon comments that the Beatles are more popular with teens that Jesus Christ. The observation leads to Beatle record burnings and bans from radio play around the country. In March, the Beatles release their “Yesterday and Today” album with the “Butcher cover” (featuring the Beatles sitting with pieces of meat and decapitated baby dolls). The record company quickly withdraws the record from stores and replaces it with an innocuous photo of the band.AH
 * **1968 -**An El Paso, Texas radio station bans all record by singer bans all records by singer Bob Dylan because it is too difficulty to understand the lyrics. The station management fears that the lyrics may contain offensive or lewd messages. However, the station continues to play recordings of other artists covering Dylan’s song.During the National Democratic Convention, Chicago mayor Richard Daley orders local radio stations to avoid playing the Rolling Stones’ single “Street Fighting Man” in anticipation of rioting that occurred during the convention. The plan backfires, and airplay and sales of the single reach record-setting proportions in Chicago.AH
 * **April, 1971-**Officials in Illinois release a list of popular music that contains drug references. The list includes the popular children’s son “Puff the Magic Dragon” and the Beatles “Yellow Submarine”AH
 * **1973-**The Supreme Court announced a new Obscenity test that would allow local communities to set their own censorship standards and than would relive prosecutors of the burden of proving that a work charges as obscene is “utterly without redeeming social importance. AH
 * Miller v. California
 * Does the material depict or describe specific sexual or excretory activities or organs in a “patently offensive manner”
 * Would the average person, applying “contemporary community standards, “find that the material, takes as a whole, appeals predominantly to a “prurient” interest in sexual or excretory matter?
 * Does the material take a whole, lack “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value?
 * 1981- The morals of Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah are saved when radio stations ban Olivia Newton John’s hit “Physical” because its sexual innuendoes are found to be “unsuitable” for their Mormon audiences. AH
 * **1985 -**The most prominent group in the history of music censorship, the PMRG (Parents Music Recourse Group), is formed in Washington, DC by Tipper Gore (wife of then senator Al Gore) and Susan Baker. The PRMG’s primary focus is to convince record companies to monitor and rate artists’ releases with a system similar to the MPAA systems for movies. Their efforts spark a renewed interest by a variety of groups to censor music and lyrics- interest that runs high for longer than five years. The organization’s name is later changed to the Parents Music Resource Center. AH
 * **1987 -**Heavy metal icon Ozzy Osborne is unsuccessfully sued by the parents of a 19 year old boy who claimed their son committed suicide after listening to Osborne’s son “Suicide Solution” AH
 * **August, 1987 -**Jello Biafra, leader of the punk group The Dean Kennedy’s is acquitted of distributing pornography. The case involves the artwork the H.R. Giger, featured on the band’s “Frenakenchrist” album. Biafra is prosecuted after an attorney’s daughter bought a copy of the record for her brother as a Christmas present. Copies of the album are seized and destroyed. AH
 * **July, 1990 -**Metal band Judas Priest is sued by the family of two young men. The families contend that “hidden” messages in the band’s “Stained Class” record prompted the youngsters to beat and choke one of their mothers, walk around town exposing themselves, and steal money.
 * **1990 -**Members of the rap group N.W.A. receive a letter from the F.B.I saying that the agency did not appreciate the song “Fuck the Police.” Law enforcement groups across the country agreed AH
 * **January, 1990 -**In one of the most famous music censorship cases, police in Dade County, Florida set up a sting to arrest three retailers who are selling copies of a record by 2 Live Crew to children under the age of 18.AH
 * Objections to 2 Live Crew started with the break-thought of their hit “Me so Horny.” Similar prosecutions regarding 2 Live Crew record sales occur in Alabama and Tennessee. No prosecutions result in standing convictions. Members of 2 Live Crew are also prosecuted for performing the material live in concert. Later that year, New York rock band Too Much Joy plays a show in Fort Lauderdale, Florida two months after 2 Live Crew is arrested for performing “obscene material” in the same club. AH
 * Too Much Joy played a set entirely of 2 Live Crew materials and is summarily arrested. The case is thrown out of court. AH
 * **2000-**The parental advisory label is still in effect and many organizations are formed to stop censorship or create censorship..AH

"Laws Regarding Music Censorship ." Web.23 Apr 2009. < []>.
 * rules and regulations and systems have been set up to filter the content of certain media texts in certain situations this is the practice of censorship AH
 * who believe in the need for censorship parents, governments, politicians AH
 * who believe in absolute freedom of speech artists, media corporations, teenage audiences AH
 * Music's a channel for expressing ideas that oppose most people AH
 * Poor? Underprivileged? Disenfranchised? No access to institutional forms of communication? these are topics of the songs poeple try to censor AH
 * music is also seen as influencing the behaviour of its audiences, particularly children and teenagers AH
 * audiences divide themselves into tribes, and dress, talk, and do their hair accordingly AH
 * accused by politicians and parents of encouraging teenagers to use violent language and commit violent crimes AH
 * rap music should bear in mind that we've already been there done that, back in the 1950s, when the likes of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis were horrifying politicians and parents AH
 * Washington Wives formed the Parents Music Resource Centre in 1985 AH
 * direct reaction to the "filth" filling the eardrums of their sons and daughters AH
 * The two artists who started the conflagration were Prince and Madonna AH
 * lyrics of "Darling Nikki" //Purple Rain//, the latter for "Like A Virgin" and the fact that she was appealing to 7 year old girls AH
 * "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" label would warn of songs regarding drugs, sex, violence and other potentially objectionable material AH
 * drastic downturns in sales for rap and metal artists, who were denied distribution through outlets like Wal-mart AH
 * Rap and Hip Hop have been singled out in recent months for violent lyrical content AH
 * gangsta rap for accelerating the use of guns AH

SANNEH, KELEFA. "Don’t Blame Hip-Hop." //New York Times//. 2007. Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company. Web.23 Apr 2009. .
 * Hip-hop has been making enemies for as long as it has been winning fans AH
 * dismissed as noise, blamed for concert riots, accused of glorifying crime and sexism and greed and Ebonics AH
 * genre has already acquired a reputation for bad language and bad behavior AH
 * Oprah Winfrey organized a two-show “town meeting” on what’s wrong with hip-hop AH
 * How o censor out the word “ho” and its slipperier cousin, “bitch” AH
 * leaders of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Mr. Simmons and Ben Chavis AH
 * recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words ‘bitch’ and ‘ho’ ” and a third term, a common racial epithet AH
 * suggesting that all albums be censored too.) Mr. Simmons helped create the hip-hop industry AH
 * hip-hop culture had popularized an anti-snitching ethos that was undermining the police and allowing criminals to operate with relative impunity AH
 * rapper Cam’ron thinks cooperating with police would hurt his professional reputation and run counter to “the way I was raised." AH
 * Even if Cam’ron is just doing what sells, the question remains: Why is this what sells? AH
 * This means that mainstream culture is becoming less prim (or more crude, if you prefer), and it’s getting harder to keep the sordid stuff on the margins AH
 * Hip-hop fans, in particular, have come to expect that many of their favorite songs will reach radio in expurgated form with curses, epithets, drug references and mentions of violence deleted AH
 * aren’t very good at promoting so-called positivity or wholesome community-mindedness AH
 * give them some words to snip and they’ll diligently (if grudgingly) snip away AH
 * they are paid to say private things (sometimes offensive things) in public AH
 * big record companies eventually decided rappers like Cam’ron were more trouble than they were worth AH
 * albums haven’t sold well then why not spend that extra money on a clean-cut R&B singer, or a kid-friendly pop group? AH
 * hardly any current hip-hop artists were discussed AH
 * because hip-hop isn’t in an especially filthy mood right now AH
 * light-hearted and clean-cut than it has in years AH
 * radio is full of cheerful dance tracks like Huey’s “Pop, Lock & Drop It,” Crime Mob’s “Rock Yo Hips,” Mims’s “This Is Why I’m Hot” and Swizz Beatz’s “It’s Me, Snitches." AH

"Censorship Timeline." 2009. proquest LLC. Web.23 Apr 2009. .
 * 1538 - The English monarch Henry VIII established licensing laws for the government to control what is printed AH
 * 1737 - England begins censoring plays when the licensing Act is passed, using Henry Fielding's play, The Gold Rump, to neutalize objections. Censorship of plays continues in the UK until 1968 AH
 * 1907 - Chicago becomes one of the first cities in America to enact a movie censorship law. Cities and States around the nation follow suit, resulting in a variety of different rules and standards.AH
 * 1917 - The US passes the Espionage Act. This act gives the postmaster general power to censor the mail AH
 * 1925 - teacher in tennessee goes to court for teaching his biology class about evalution AH
 * 1950 - The South African Government begins banning those who express views opposed to apartheid AH
 * 1965 - Radio stations across the US ban the Rolling Stones hit I Cant Get No Satisfaction because of sexually suggestive lyrics AH
 * 1984 - Burning of the american flag AH
 * 1991 - The pentagon limits media press pool access to the persian gulf war and spells out the categories of information that can be reported AH
 * these are all different fors of censorship that have been going on for over 500 years AH