Censorship of music refers to the practice of editing of musical works for various reasons, stemming from a wide variety of motivations, including moral, political, or religious reasons. Censorship can range from the complete government-enforced legal prohibition of a musical work, to private, voluntary removal of content when a musical work appears in a certain context.
Decency
Decency
Songs are commonly edited for broadcast on radio and television to remove content that may be considered objectionable to an outlet's target audience, such as profanity, or references to subjects such as sex and drug usage. This is typically done to comply with any relevant broadcast law or codes of conduct, and to make the songs more marketable to a mainstream audience. Songs edited for content in this manner by are often referred to as a "clean version" or a "radio edit".Common editing techniques include distorting vocals to obscure offending words (including muting, or replacing them with alternative lyrics)
Sensitivity
Sensitivity
Some songs may be pulled or downplayed by broadcasters if they are considered to be inappropriate to play in the aftermath of specific events.
Legal issues
Songs and albums may, in some cases, be censored due to copyright problems (particularly related to sampling) or other legal issues.
United Kingdom
Different countries have different regulations.
For the United Kingdom , the telecommunications regulator Ofcom has the power to reprimand broadcasters for playing songs and music videos that breach its guidelines on harmful or offensive content pre-watershed.The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) adopted the RIAA's Parental Advisory label program; in July 2011, the BPI published guidance for use of the logo on digital streaming platforms.
