VEVO Stands Up for Artist's Expression

Music video portal VEVO is taking a firm stand supporting the creative expression of artists in their music videos. A big OVW salute to them!

British rap artist M.I.A. had her latest video, for the single “Born Free,” pulled from YouTube for being overly graphic. According to the BBC reports:

YouTube said: “On YouTube the rules prohibit content like pornography or gratuitous violence. Our policy is to age-restrict content that has been flagged by the community and identified by our policy enforcement team as content that, while not violating our community guidelines, is not suitable for users under age 18.”

However, VEVO, who has a very deep partnership with the flagship video sharing site, has chosen to allow the video on their site.

According to a VEVO spokesperson, “VEVO is a place where artists of all types can express themselves freely through their music. We’ve chosen to include M.I.A.’s “Born Free” music video in our programming with appropriate messaging for viewers. While M.I.A’s views aren’t necessarily those of VEVO’s, we feel airing this video, as VEVO supports self-expression, is in the best interest of all artists appearing on VEVO.”

It is worth noting, however, that M.I.A. is on a the Interscope label, part of the Universal Music Group, and VEVO is a partnership between Universal and YouTube. Also worth noting that the UMG site is using Brightcove‘s player, not YouTube’s.

But since we’re not prudes here at OVW, here’s the video. Judge for yourself.