Over the last year or so, there has been an ever growing concern that music videos are containing more and more sexually explicit and violent material. Major record companies Sony, Universal and Warner Bros have signed up with online companies YouTube and Vevo to sign a music video age rating scheme in the UK. Although only currently voluntary, current signed companies hope to see other record labels potentially sign up in the future.
The scheme will see labels put forward a request, and apply for music video ratings from The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) before any video can be officially released online. The scheme is currently only active within the UK, so will not apply to music videos of artists such as Jennifer Lopez and Miley Cyrus at the moment.
Geoff Taylor, chief executive of music industry body BPI recently said in an interview, “the major record labels are piloting this scheme, which will cover all of the content that they release. Clearly there are videos from other countries which we can’t capture in a UK scheme. Already in the US they have parental advisory warnings on any videos that might cause concern, so there is some protection there and we think other countries might see we’re taking a lead, and if it works they might follow suit“.
#Peace.Love.MusicVideos
