Music Videos To Be Given Age Ratings In UK

Film-style age ratings are being introduced for music videos in a pilot scheme to help protect children from unsuitable content.

Three of the UK's top music labels - Warner, Universal and Sony - have signed up along with YouTube and Vevo, but at the moment the initiative is only voluntary.

Run in conjunction with music industry body the BPI, the scheme will see the labels apply for ratings from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) before videos are made available online.

The classification will be limited to the UK, so it will not apply to some of the most explicit videos by the likes of US stars Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Lopez.

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, told Sky News he hopes other countries will follow their lead.

"The major record labels are piloting this scheme, which will cover all of the content that they release," he said.

"Clearly there are videos from other countries which we can't capture in a UK scheme.

"Already in the US they have parental advisory warnings on any videos that might cause concern, so there is some protection there.

"We think other countries might see we're taking a lead, and if it works they might follow suit."

There has been growing concern about the content of music videos, with an increasing number containing sexually explicit and violent material.

Object, which has been involved in lobbying the Government to bring in age certificates for music videos, believes the new scheme does not go far enough.

Campaigns and outreach officer Betiel Baraki said: "Young people come to us to share their concerns about the type of music videos they watch.

"They often find it is sexist, racist, (and) reduces women to their body parts, particularly black women.

"That's why we urge the Government to go further and make it a mandatory system."