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Working with the BBFC, Youtube and Vevo are to start enforcing age restrictions on music videos that contain explicit content.
The new classifications will apply to any artists represented by the major labels (Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music). Clear age restrictions will be displayed on Youtube and Vevo abiding to the same criteria the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) build their rating system on.
These labels will have to submit their videos to the BBFC for approval prior to the video's release. Labels will then pass on the rating and parental guidance information when the videos are uploaded to either Youtube or Vevo.
These new measures have not come out of the blue, however. Rated music videos gas been going on since October 2014 as a pilot programme launched by the government.
Rated music videos has been a hot-topic for the past few years since the controversial nudity in Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines' and the Miley Cyrus destruction derby that was 'wrecking ball'.
Over 130 videos have been submitted to the BBFC for approval so far, with 56 classified as a 12 rating and 53 rated as 15. The only 18 rating was pinned to Dizzee Racal's horror spoof, 'Couple of Stacks'.
A six month pilot is in the process of launching to roll out the same measures for independent labels.
