3 ms·

I agree that trying to force a change in the actual music is worse than requiring the parental advisory sticker, but they are both forms of censorship. One pro

I agree that trying to force a change in the actual music is worse than requiring the parental advisory sticker, but they are both forms of censorship. One problem is that the interpretation of lyrics is subjective, as this FBI investigation so well illustrates. Albums that sound sufficiently pop/clean/bubblegum go without the sticker when there are clearly songs explicitly about sex/drugs/etc. For an example, look at Third Eye Blind's self-titled, debut album. Semi-Charmed Life is clearly about meth and sex, but it is sufficiently clean sounding that it gets by without a sticker. Meanwhile, albums that sounds a little edgier, but are actually about clean, mundane subject matter have the sticker forced upon them. IMO, the movies and games industries have much better, more objective rating systems.

loeg 9y ago
> IMO, the movies and games industries have much better, more objective rating systems. If you believe that, I recommend you watch This Movie Is Not Yet Rated[0]. It's just as bad in movies :-). I don't know anything about game ratings to dispute that part, though. [0]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/
- cavanasm 9y ago
  ESRB (games rating system) is the same way. Almost no physical retailers will carry NR (Not Rated) or AO (Adults Only) rated games as a matter of corporate policy. ESRB DOES clearly list whatever content caused the game to receive it's rating though. If you're a dev who wants to make a game and distribute physical copies, you can still do so online through Amazon or some other distributor, and Steam hosts digital distributions without ESRB ratings of any kind simply because there are too many indie games for ESRB to rate (if they all applied for ratings that is).
chimeracoder 9y ago
> IMO, the movies and games industries have much better, more objective rating systems. Honestly, the music industry is way better than the movie industry. The MPAA rating system is a literal censorship board, complete with an actual member of the clergy serving in an advisory role on all appeals. But if you don't get your film rated, it's almost impossible to distribute it to anyone but the very small independent movie theaters. The MPAA results in an immensely chilling effect, which influences the movies people produce in the first place. Contrast that with music, where the distribution mechanisms are much more varied than for film, and there's nothing preventing people from releasing music with incredibly explicit lyrics, as long as they don't expect the uncensored versions to be played on the radio - a medium which, while still popular, is by no means thr primary distribution channel anymore.

loeg 9y ago

> IMO, the movies and games industries have much better, more objective rating systems. If you believe that, I recommend you watch This Movie Is Not Yet Rated[0]. It's just as bad in movies :-). I don't know anything about game ratings to dispute that part, though. [0]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/

cavanasm 9y ago
ESRB (games rating system) is the same way. Almost no physical retailers will carry NR (Not Rated) or AO (Adults Only) rated games as a matter of corporate policy. ESRB DOES clearly list whatever content caused the game to receive it's rating though. If you're a dev who wants to make a game and distribute physical copies, you can still do so online through Amazon or some other distributor, and Steam hosts digital distributions without ESRB ratings of any kind simply because there are too many indie games for ESRB to rate (if they all applied for ratings that is).

chimeracoder 9y ago

> IMO, the movies and games industries have much better, more objective rating systems. Honestly, the music industry is way better than the movie industry. The MPAA rating system is a literal censorship board, complete with an actual member of the clergy serving in an advisory role on all appeals. But if you don't get your film rated, it's almost impossible to distribute it to anyone but the very small independent movie theaters. The MPAA results in an immensely chilling effect, which influences the movies people produce in the first place. Contrast that with music, where the distribution mechanisms are much more varied than for film, and there's nothing preventing people from releasing music with incredibly explicit lyrics, as long as they don't expect the uncensored versions to be played on the radio - a medium which, while still popular, is by no means thr primary distribution channel anymore.