Music Lyrics

Violent and anti-social messages in music lyrics was raised in a number of
submissions and this concern was echoed at the Senate Committee's seminar. 
In response to community concerns on this issue, Australia's censorship
ministers agreed on 25 October 1996 to a proposal from the Australian Record
Industry Association (ARIA) for a 12 month trial of voluntary warnings about
explicity lyrics on retail CD covers.  Of more direct relevance to this
inquiry, the trial industry Code of Practice requires members of the
industry to refuse distributions and sale of records with lyrics which
encourage extreme violence or crime.  The Ministers responsible have warned
that a compulsory censorship scheme would be considered if the trial
self-regulation fails.

Concerns in relation to music lyrics centred around the difficulty for
parents to monitor what children are listening to on the radio since so much
listening is done with headphones.  The repetitive nature of many popular
lyrics also leads to a fear that a depressed adolescant may succumb to
negative messages (such as lyrics promoting suicide as a means of resolving
personal problems).  Violent acts, whther dirceted towards the self as in
suicides or towards others in mass shootings tend to engender a 'copycat'
element.  There have been reports that people contemplating suicide may be
particularly vulnerable to 'copying' other suicides.[43]  It is therefore
important to control material that encourages violent acts against the
self.  The Senate Committee would like to see specific mention made of
suicide in the ARIA Code of Practice's Guidelines for *Material which exceeds
the upper parameters of 18+*

The Committee recommends:

That the ARIA Code of Practice Guidelines No. 3 for "material which are not
permitted to be sold" be amended to add the word "suicide" after the words
"incest" and "child abuse." (Recommendation 14)

[43] Cantor, C.H. & Sheehan, P.  Violence and Media Reports - A Connection
with Hungerford?  Archives of Suicide Research, Griffith University.

-- From
 
Report on the Portrayal of Violence in the Electronic Media, 

Senate Select Committee on Community Standards Relevant to the Supply of
Services Utilising Electronic Technologies,

Feburary 1997

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