Music and Society - Censorship
In the UK and other western countries, people are free to listen to the music they like, watch the movies they enjoy and use the Internet freely, however other countries in the middle east don't have those luxuries due to censorship. Censorship in the middle east makes pursuing a career or even just an interest in music extremely difficult as it cuts those who enjoy music off from what goes on in other countries (e.g. UK, USA etc.) where there is either no censorship or a small amount of it.
There are websites in Iran that allow people to use the Internet and listen to music, however these websites are watched by the government and they make sure that anything foreign to them isn't put on these sites. All forms of western music has been banned in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 with the exception of music by Elton John and Queen.
If there are people who wish to listen to other types of music from outside of the country, they would have to break the law and illegally hack into other websites to do so, but if they are caught, they can be sentenced to jail straight away without a trial and even killed.
Up until the Islamic Revolution in 1979, western music was allowed to be played publicly in Iran, there wasn't as many restrictions and censorship laws in music before the Revolution.
Ayatollah Khomeini, a religious leader and politician became the leader of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and life under Khomeini was very hard. Khomeini made new laws which restricted and banned many things concerning fashion, media, literature and music. Music made by Iranian artists has to be checked by government boards which are dominated by middle-aged judges who are accustomed to traditional Iranian music. To be able to sell music in Iran, there are many requirements that have to be met otherwise the government would not allow it. Some of these requirements are:
Ayatollah Khomeini, a religious leader and politician became the leader of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and life under Khomeini was very hard. Khomeini made new laws which restricted and banned many things concerning fashion, media, literature and music. Music made by Iranian artists has to be checked by government boards which are dominated by middle-aged judges who are accustomed to traditional Iranian music. To be able to sell music in Iran, there are many requirements that have to be met otherwise the government would not allow it. Some of these requirements are:
- free of grammar errors,
- no unsuitable words,
- no shaved heads,
- no solo female performers,
- no eccentric stage movements,
- very little reliance on electric guitars,
- no declaration of love to anyone but Allah.
In the UK and the US, accessing music websites, buying/downloading music and making music is probably the easiest thing to do when you have access to the Internet, where it takes up to 5-10 minutes to download an album, whereas in Iran it can take up to 2-3 days.
Making music in the UK and the US is a lot easier to do compared to making music in Iran. Logic Pro, Pro Tools and Sibelius are all professional software used for making music and are available to anyone with an Apple computer. Promoting and selling music are relatively easy to do in the UK and the US with the help of social media websites such Twitter, Facebook and Soundcloud which allow artists as well as upcoming artists to promote their music and create a fan base for themselves. All of these methods of making and self-promoting music aren't as accessible in Iran, however because of the strict censorship rules in Iran, people do resort to using the Internet and having private concerts to get their music out in the public domain as well as to network with other artists.
Making music in the UK and the US is a lot easier to do compared to making music in Iran. Logic Pro, Pro Tools and Sibelius are all professional software used for making music and are available to anyone with an Apple computer. Promoting and selling music are relatively easy to do in the UK and the US with the help of social media websites such Twitter, Facebook and Soundcloud which allow artists as well as upcoming artists to promote their music and create a fan base for themselves. All of these methods of making and self-promoting music aren't as accessible in Iran, however because of the strict censorship rules in Iran, people do resort to using the Internet and having private concerts to get their music out in the public domain as well as to network with other artists.
The websites and software that people in the UK and the US have access to allows them to create their own music, plug in their own instrument that they purchased from a music shop and record whatever they like, however that isn't easy to do so in Iran because there are no music shops that would sell instruments like an electric guitar, electric bass or a drum kit.
The only way to get instruments like those into Iran would be to illegally smuggle them into the country which would mean that if the person is caught, they would face extreme consequences, and even if the instruments are successfully smuggled into the country, that person would need to find some form of tuition to learn how to play the instrument.
Listening to loud music through your earphones on a packed train isn't a problem in the UK, except for maybe someone complaining about your music being too loud, which is probably the most likely worst case scenario, but it would be very unlikely that they would complain about the music being an offence to certain cultural, political or religious views, which is the main reason that western music is banned in Iran.
Bibliography:
http://freemuse.org/archives/372
http://www.worldissues360.com/index.php/how-censorship-laws-make-it-difficult-to-be-a-musician-in-iran-18165/
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/iran-iraq-war.html
http://freemuse.org/archives/133
