Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The OP question was about production of songs, not writing them. I am absolutely convinced that many songs would be censured today by recording companies and radio stations for PC reasons. However now we also have individuals releasing songs on internet platforms. Is Apple (for example) censuring songs following PC guidelines? I don’t really know.
We should also remember that songs (and TV episodes) were always under the censor’s boot in this country. The moral police was always hard at work. The conservative agenda blocked an “I love Lucy” episode in the 50s after the topic of “pregnancy” was mentioned and was deemed unsuitable for family view. No, it did not happen in the Middle Ages…
Would be interested to hear from someone who went in person through the release process with Apple or any other internet platform….
Excellent question.
I’m a music producer. Streaming platforms (in the mainstream - Spotify, Apple, Tidal, Deezer, Amazon) require that if you have explicit content, that you mark the track as such so that consumers have the option to filter out your track if they don’t want it.
It’s always been advisable when releasing music to put out both a clean and explicit version, as radio won’t play your track if it’s got any offensive language. Of course if your track is just controversial in idea, rather than language, you have to take your chances.
In some countries it’s illegal to distribute music with profane content.
Here’s a guideline as to when you should mark your track as explicit - if you don’t you run the risk of the track not being approved for upload. However that’s the only requirement. There’s no censorship of the actual content. The explicit label is there for family and business friendly filters, that are put in place by the consumer not the streaming service.
It is important that you mark your track with the correct parental advisory label. The labels are used by the stores to communicate to their users if a track contains any lyrics that can be considered offensive. Failure to use the correct label will result in your track being rejected or taken down from the stores.
Explicit
If your track contains any explicit lyrics, such as derogatory language, swearing, drug references, references to violence etc, then you have to mark it as 'Explicit' when uploading it to us.
Clean
Only use this label if there is already an explicit version of this track. This means if you have "beeped out" any parts of the lyrics that can be considered explicit. Do not change the title of your track, the stores will automatically censor any explicit words from the title.
Not explicit
Use this label if your lyrics/titles do not contain any explicit lyrics.
Oh gawd I could 100 songs that would give Tipper Gore an apoplectic fit.
ODB - (Old Dirty Bastard) - N*gga N*gga N*gga
Oingo Boingo (I love) Little Girls
Go head and look those up and give 'em a listen. I think you'll agree, modern woke/cancel culture would have blood coming out their ears and lightning fly out their mouths.
That would still be acceptable today. Listen to Jay-Z's Story of OJ.
What would probably also be acceptable today would be the pervy songs of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.
What wouldn't be acceptable would be Wives and Lovers.
To the thread topic - anyone can produce any song they want with any content they like, no one is stopping them.
The question is better framed as would mainstream artists be in a fight with their label if they tried to release songs with content that would be denned offensive and not PC by today’s standard, and the answer to that would be yes, yes they would.
Independent artists have no such restrictions and are free to release whatever they want, which doesn’t make them free from backlash or public scrutiny.
But if they have an audience for it, and don’t care about judgment by the GP, then they are free to put it out there.
We went to a Pink Martini concert in Fort Worth a few years ago. They were playing at Bass Hall (where the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra plays). It is customary there to play the National Anthem prior to the concert.
It was not played before Pink Martini.
And after the intermission, the band was doing song challenges from the audience. Someone asked for “Sweet Home Alabama”, and after a few lines, she quit singing, and said “that song is racist.”
They also did an audience participation number with “I am Woman, Hear me Roar.”
Half the audience participated by getting up and leaving. Know thy audience.
The next day the venue was calling all of their ticket holders to apologize.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
