Censorship in Music When listening to the radio, most people come across a song that has been changed from its original version, whether certain words are beeped out, or a string of lyrics are replaced altogether. This is censorship, and it is very common on the radio. It is also very controversial. People don’t agree what should be censored or if anything should be censored at all. However, we believe that censorship is a good thing. Censorship allows offensive music to be altered so that it is not offensive anymore. It also prevents younger children from being exposed to harsh and inappropriate content in a society where access to music is growing. The positives of censorship outweigh the negatives by far.
What is Censorship? …show more content…

Usually radio stations will avoid playing music with the parental advisory label or will at least play the clean version. There is no set standard for music; instead, each record company can decide whether any given album requires a label. Most are labeled explicit if they have reference to profanity, sex, drugs or violence (Mika 2005). Since there is no set standard, some songs get it for using one swear word while another can swear throughout the song and not get labeled. For example, Aaron Carter’s self-titled album was labeled explicit even though he had a clean reputation at the time as well as clean music content. Some albums by Green Day and Maroon 5 were released without a label even though most would agree it deserved one, because they were produced by small record companies.
Positives of Censorship Censorship is advantageous in many ways. It avoids controversy over music content for starters. If something is censored on the radio, it is most likely to not upset those who would be offended by it. People have different ideas on what is appropriate, so what someone thinks is okay, another person may find inappropriate. Censoring gets rid of that issue altogether and avoids the controversy. Censoring also prevents younger children from being exposed to inappropriate content. The radio is easily accessible. People can listen to it on the mp3