Regulations

An organisation known as the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) controls regulations for online music videos. Online content can be published freely enabling explicit content to be exposed and abused. Reporting content can result in the video being taken down. This has occurred with public figures such as Rihanna, her S&M video was banned in 11 countries and age restricted on YouTube due to the explicit adult content, it was also re-edited for daytime play.

Regulation is highly important due to the influences it has on the viewer especially if the video is of a celebrity with a platform and people that look up to them. The hypodermic needle theory suggests that the audience will accept the message displayed to them and is metaphorically injected into them. During 2015 the statistics presented 132 videos had been submitted to the BBFC by labels, with 56 rated as a 12 and 53 classified as 15. Only one had been given an 18 rating. In 2017 it is predicted that the figures have potentially increased.

Vevo and YouTube intend ‘to improve consumer awareness about the content of specific music videos and to improve child protection online’ whilst working in partnership with BBFC. They are now making a permanent scheme to age rate all music videos signed to Sony, Universal and Warner Music UK that are unsuitable for younger children. Ratings appear on these platforms to give guidance of the suitability. The BBFC classifies each video that is submitted to the BBFC by artists that intend to release the video online in the UK, they then assign an age rating and content advice based on the classification guidelines, after watching the video from start to finish.

BBFC consider the following when classifying a music video:

1.     Drug misuse

2.     Dangerous behaviour presented as safe

3.     Bad language

4.     Sexual behaviour and nudity

5.     Threatening behaviour

Age ratings related to music videos look like the following:

I have no intention of including any of the considered elements when classifying a music video giving me no reason to have concerns about the controlled regulations for my online music video.