The broadcasting authority in Jamaica has prohibited content that “honours unlawful activity,” such as narcotic and gun use.
The new rules apply to TV and radio, including music, and specify which topics are prohibited.
Trying to scam, substance abuse, as well as the illegal use of firearms are all prohibited, as are swearing or “near-sounding” replacements.
However, some artists have criticized the ban’s strictness, claiming that music is a representation of life.
It comes in the wake high levels of violent crime in Jamaica, which had one of the highest rates of murder in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2021.
However, the broadcasting agency believes that using public airwaves to broadcast songs glorifying illegal activity may give the “false impression that criminal behaviour is an accepted feature of Jamaican society and culture.
All shapes of criminal or illegal behavior” are now outlawed in an attempt to keep the airwaves “clean,” it said, and station operators must comply immediately.
Concerns about offending content normalizing criminal behavior among the youth were also cited as reasons for the changes.
Even so, some Jamaican musicians have criticized the move.
“We simply cannot stop the creatives (artists) from singing about what they encounter or grew up around,” Romeich, a local music manager as well as producer, stated in an Instagram post.
He then inquired as to whether “Is Jamaica the only nation with children? Since the same tend to listen to the same songs in other places “.
Stephen McGregor, aka “Di Genius,” a Grammy-winning record producer and singer, expressed his displeasure on Twitter.
Violence and crime will magically cease now “He wrote mockingly before pointing out that younger folks listen to music more frequently on the web than on the airwaves.
“In my view, the move is more of a ‘look, we’re doing something’ than an actual attempt to do something,” Mr McGregor said.
This isn’t the first time that music has been prohibited in Jamaica. When “daggering,” a type of sexually provocative dancing, became popular in 2009, regulatory authorities banned music championing sex, violence, murder, or arson.
According to the broadcasting commission’s declaration, while free expression must be respected, content promoting crime rubs the “tenets of responsible broadcasting” the wrong way.
