Various state and federal legislators have been considering laws to fine and/or criminally prosecute retailers selling minors music videos with parental advisories due to their language, violence or sexual nature. In the past, these same individuals tried similar tactics with movies and video games to no avail. This was attributable to several reasons: concerns about freedom of speech, the questionable validity of studies that warn about harmful affects of violence and sexual content on children, and the responsibility of parents versus storeowners in supervising youth's actions. The situation with music videos is no different: entertainment cannot and should not be legislated.
When the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) examined the legislation of motion pictures and electronic games in 2000, it did not call for passing federal laws. Citing First Amendment concerns, the report reaffirmed the FTC's belief that "vigilant self-regulation is the best approach to ensuring that parents are provided with adequate information to guide their children's exposure to entertainment media with violent content." .
Concern about First Amendment rights, as that expressed by the FTC, is surely nothing new. Freedom of speech has long been a strong argument against censorship of entertainment and communication. Since the 1950s, there have been many bills passed to prevent explicit lyrics in music. Repeatedly, however, the courts have denied legislation to ban or bring criminal charges based on the production or sale of artistic expression because of constitutional rights. In 1992, one bill finally seemed to pass. The state of Washington passed the Erotic Music law, which stated that storeowners had to place an "adult only- label on certain recordings. This law also read it was a crime for anyone to sell a CD or tape that had this notice to a person under the age of eighteen. Although the law got passed, it was never put into effect because of unconstitutionality (ACLU).
