The Swarm

August 12, 2007

The Blue Room: Who else did AT&T censor?

TDS Editors

How many musicians have had their AT&T Blue Room performances edited or censored?

Here’s what we know so far:

- Pearl Jam’s Lollapalooza performance was stripped of its anti-Bush lyrics by an AT&T “content monitor.”

- AT&T claimed:

The editing of the Pearl Jam performance on Sunday night was not intended, but rather a mistake by a webcast vendor and contrary to our policy. We have policies in place with respect to editing excessive profanity, but AT&T does not edit or censor performances.

- A fan emails reporters:

They did the same thing on the webcasts from Bonnaroo in June during the John Butler Trio show when he was talking about the lack of response from our government during Katrina, and also during the Flaming Lips show when the lead singer was talking about how much George Bush had screwed up. I was at both of those live shows and saw the webcasts later. The sound did not cut out at any other time – only when someone was talking about George Bush or the goverment in a negative way.

Now, according the the Sun Times:

- The Flaming Lips are not aware of the cuts, and are reviewing the tapes.

- Jon Butler Trio are unavailable for comment.

- AT&T issues a new statement admitting that political speech has been censored in the past:

“It’s not our intent to edit political comments in Webcasts on the Blue Room,” Tiffany O’Brien Nels, AT&T’s Austin, Texas-based spokeswoman, said Friday in a prepared statement. “Unfortunately, it has happened in the past in a handful of cases. We have taken steps to insure that it will not happen again.”

So, big questions remain: Who else was censored by AT&T? How many times has this happened? What was the offending behavior or speech that caused performances to be edited? What exact steps are being taken?

While we’re waiting for answers from AT&T, we’d like to hear from you. If you’re a musician, or work in the music industry, are a journalist covering this story, or are a fan of music, and you have seen or are aware of other incidents of censorship or editing in AT&T Blue Room webcasts at any time since 2005, please let us know. We can be reached via email at ‘editor-at- thedailyswarm-dot-com,’ via this anonymous tip form, or in the comments below.

(We are just rolling out the comments feature for The Daily Swarm, so please be patient as we work out the bugs.)

We will update this post as we get word on other incidents.

UPDATES:

Alleged: Nightwatchman (Tom Morello) @ Bonnaroo 2007 (Nightwatchman message board)

Did anyone else watch The Nightwatchman live stream from bonnaroo? Everytime Tom began to talk the audio would cut out. I’m assuming that it wasnt just me.

Alleged: Lupe Fiasco @ Lollpalooza 2007 (Pearl Jam message board)

I actually missed the Pearl Jam set, but I saw Lupe Fiasco’s performance earlier in the day. He has a song called “American Terrorist”, and while the song itself seemed to go by untouched… Lupe’s lead in to the song was. It went something along the lines of “Some of you might know him as George W. Bush… The President. I know him as George W. Bush ___________ (dead air)”. Having seen Lupe in concert before, I know that muted out section was a “American Terrorist”. He pretty much yells it into the mic before launching into the song.

Alleged: Lily Allen @ Bonnaroo 2007 (Lollapalooza message boards)

They were definately censoring what Lily Allen was saying in between songs. When there are technical problems, the picture will stop and sometimes the word playlist above the buttons on the video screen will change to buffering. During Lily Allen my picture would keep playing fine and the sound was gone. The sound while the Roots were talking in between songs just cut out for the first time.

Alleged: Ozomatli (and everyone else!) @ Coachella 2007 (MicheBella on Rotten Tomatoes)

In nearly every band I watched, there was a moment when said band spoke to the crowd. Suddenly, the sound disappeared. I just watched Ozomatli, a very political band, and at the end of a long segment of talking with no sound, the guy turned around and had a picture of George Bush on his back for a split second.

Alleged: Tom Petty (and everyone else!) @ Bonnaroo 2006 (FunknJam Productions messageboard)

A big WTF? to the people in charge of streaming this webcast!! At first I thought that maybe it was a glitch in the streaming or my computer behaving funny. But every so often, the audio would cut out. And it always cut out while there seemed to be some interesting lyrics going on. I didn’t fully realize that the webcast was being CENSORED FOR CONTENT until Tom Petty sang for the third time, and had censored for the third time, “Let’s get to the point, Let’s (dead air) and turn the radio on….” Like that song hasn’t been played on the radio to death?!??! I can’t help but think this all had something to do with…. “Hey Wakarusa Policeman…”

Alleged: Buddy Guy @ Bonnaroo 2006 (webcast setlist)

Talks about Hip Hop/sings about a Cow/Bull/Mule ( censored )


20 Comments (further comments disabled)

#1 djp says:

Here's a list performers from Blue Room broadcasts at Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza this year:

All info from SPIN.com:

Coachella 2007:

Friday:
3:00-3:45: Brother Ali
3:55-4:35: Noisettes
4:35-5:25: Tokyo Police Club
5:35-6:25: Tilly and the Wall
6:25-7:15: Of Montreal
7:15-8:05: Rufus Wainwright
8:10-9:00: Arctic Monkeys
9:05-9:55: Stephen Marley
9:55-10:45: Sonic Youth
10:45-12:00: Bjork

Saturday:
3:00-3:55: Gogol Bordello
4:00-4:35: Fields
4:40-5:25: The Cribs
5:25-6:15: The Frames
6:15-7:05: Jack's Mannequin
7:10-8:00: Andrew Bird
8:05-8:55: The Fratellis
9:00-9:50: Regina Spektor
9:50-11:00: Arcade Fire
11:00-12:00: Ozomatli

Sunday:
3:00-3:45: Anathallo
3:45-4:35: The Feeling
4:40-5:30: Junior Boys
5:30-6:00: Fair to Midland
6:05-6:55: Kaiser Chiefs
7:05-7:55: CSS
8:05-8:55: Klaxons
8:55-9:45: Crowded House
9:50-10:40: Damien Rice
10:40-11:10: Amos Lee
11:10-12:00: Lemonheads

Lollapalooza 2007

Friday:
1:00: Elvis Perkins
1:30: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
2:30: Jack’s Mannequin
3:30: Slightly Stupid
4:30: Soulive
5:30: Sparklehorse
6:30 Satellite Party
7:30: LCD Soundsystem
8:30: G Love and the Special Sauce
9:30: The Black Keys

Saturday:
12:45: Tokyo Police Club
1:30: Tapes 'n Tapes
2:30: M.I.A.
3:30: Motion City Soundtrack
4:30: Pete Yorn
5:30: The Hold Steady
6:30 Stephen Marley
7:30: Regina Spektor
8:30: Ben Harper

Sunday:
12:15: Dax Riggs
1:15: Heartless Bastards
2:15: Lupe Fiasco
3:15: Blue October
4:15: Kings of Leon
5:15: Paolo Nutini
5:30: Amy Winehouse
6:30: Interpol
8:00: Pearl Jam

Bonnaroo

Friday:
12:30 PM, Uncle Earl
1:15 PM, Cold War Kids
2:15 PM, Brazilian Girls
3:45 PM, Kings of Leon
5:00 PM, Paolo Nutini
6:15 PM, Gillian Welch
7:45 PM, The Nightwatchman
9:00 PM, Lily Allen
10:00 PM, The Roots

Saturday:
12:45 PM, Old Crow Medicine Show
1:45 PM, Spearhead
2:15 PM, Regina Spektor
3:30 PM, The Black Keys
4:15 PM, Damien Rice
5:45 PM, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
7:45 PM, The Hold Steady
8:15 PM, Mago: Billy Martin & John Medeski
9:45 PM, TBA
10:15 PM, The String Cheese Incident

Sunday:
12:30 P.M., Robert Glasper Trio
1:00 P.M., John Butler Trio
2:00 P.M., The Flaming Lips
3:00 P.M., Bob Weir & Ratdog
4:30 P.M., Wolfmother
5:30 P.M., Wilco
7:15 P.M., The White Stripes
8:45 P.M., Widespread Panic

#2 E says:

I'll second the comment about Lupe Fiasco's Lollapalooza stream being edited as well. There were a couple moments where we lost sound, but the video continued. One of those moments was Lupe's introdution to American Terrorist as described above.

#3 Billy S says:

Who made you the king? AT&T has admitted it happened, said it wasn't policy, it wasn't even they that did it (rather, it was a third party) and it won't happen again. How about waiting to see whether it *does* happen again before you start demanding explanations? Your "big questions" at this point strike me as not only boring, but boorish.

#4 Peter says:

Billy S:

Who made you an idiot? AT&T said it wasn't policy after Pearl Jam complained and blamed it on an overzealous, third party technician. Since then, many people have pointed to multiple other incidents BEFORE Pearl Jam where political comments were censored. So what, you believe in each and every instance of prior censorship, it was an overzealous technician who broke the rules? You buy that, there's a bridge I have to sell you. Maybe these technicians had no hesitation censoring because censoring political speech was NOT in violation of policy; it was, if not encouraged, certainly not discouraged or punished. Doesn't that make more sense than believing that AT&T had a policy that apparently was violated multiple times without consequence? Does the fact that this has happened multiple times in the past suggest that AT&T either didn't care, acquiesced or approved the censoring? Get a brain and think with it before you comment next time.

#5 Billy S says:

Touched a nerve, did I? Good. All I'm saying is, in polite society (you should look into it) one gives someone a chance if they come clean. AT&T has, whether you care to admit it or not. I could give a rip about the details of what they've done in the past, and it sounds just a teeny bit pompous (and obsessive) to demand all that info. If I were they, I'd tell you politely to mind your own business before I wasted my time looking into every possible incident of alleged "censorship" in the past. Especially if I were going forward in good faith to stop it from happening again. Now, if it happens again, at least there's a basis for complaints.

Speaking of getting a brain, you and a number of others should learn that censorship is something only the GOVERNMENT can do, and it involves civil or criminal penalties. AT&T (or their web service) choosing to broadcast something, or not, is a business decision. May be a good one, may be a bad one, but censorship? No.

#6 unome says:

I have to wonder who BillyS works for.

#7 Billy S says:

Feh. Is that all you got? Have you ever heard of an "ad hominem" fallacy? For those who haven't, it's the mistake of attacking the person, when you can't refute his ideas. It's abandoning counterargument in favor of distraction.

Well, wonder no more, Curious Boy. My employer has not the slightest thing to do with the validity of my points, but I'll just say, and truthfully at that, that I work for an educational institution located between 20 and 40 degrees North latitude, Western hemisphere.

#8 Peter says:

Billy S:

Every time you post, you sound dumber and dumber. AT&T was given the chance to come clean and guess what, it lied! It said the Pearl Jam censorship was a one time occurrence that was the fault of an overzealous third party technician. Turns out that there have been many other instances of censorship of other bands and performances, none of which AT&T admitted to until AFTER people pointed it out. So many chances does AT&T get to tell the truth and come clean? In a polite society, a business would be honest and tell the truth. AT&T was given the benefit of the doubt after Pearl Jam complained and it turns out it lied. It no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt.

And do yourself a favor and look up the word censorship in the dictionary. Actually, let me do it for you since you obviously don't know what it means. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines censorship as "the institution, system, or practice of censoring." Censoring is defined as "to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable." Nothing in the meaning of the word limits it to only government acts; anyone can censor. Censorship that violates the First Amendment IS limited to government acts but no one but you is suggesting or insinuating that AT&T violated the First Amendment. So get a freakin' clue before you post again, will you? When you try to sound smart when you don't know what you're talking about, you only come across as the idiot that you are.

#9 Peter says:

I feel sorry for an educational institution that employs a guy who doesn't even know the meaning of the word censorship.

#10 Peter says:

Oh, look at Billy S. throw around Latin terms! Isn't he smart! Too bad he doesn't know the meaning of the word censorship! LOL.

#11 Billy S says:

1) If you can't conceive of AT&T thinking so little of the importance of their (or someone's) editing that they truly didn't know -- or care-- that it had been done before Pearl Jam, let's just leave it at this: it was their broadcast and it's their right to show whatever they want, subject only to their contracts with the performers, broadcast affiliates, etc. No one but those parties -- who I'm betting you're NOT, because if you were you'd be talking to lawyers, not this comment board -- has any standing to get bent about it. Can't you even wait to see if AT&T does it again, AFTER they say they won't, to get hysterical?

2) I'm sorry to see this coming down to measuring dictionaries, but the American Heritage says "Censor: an AUTHORIZED examiner of literature, plays, or other material...2. an OFFICIAL, as in the military or a prison, who examines personal mail and official dispatches..." The essential meaning of censorship is government repression of free speech. Applying it to private acts blurs that meaning. Your insistence on calling it "censorship" even attempts to trade on people's abhorrence of GOVERNMENT censorship.

I don't give a flip who you work for.

#12 D says:

It wasn't just you. I saw the Nightwatchman (Tom Morello) live stream. It was absolutely censored. I emailed his record company but never heard back.

#13 iridesce says:

Got here from digg.

How about some youtube links to other incidents of censorship.

Billy, billy, billy ... you poor old sod. Probably also think that the ATT / DHS listening in to all, yes all internet traffic is fine as long as they apologize and say they won't be bad in the future.

Lies, lies, lies

#14 Megan says:

Oh, just ignore Billy S. It's called trolling, replying only makes them post more.

#15 John S says:

Billy S:
I don't agree with your views but you sure know how to handle yourself. Thanks for using thought within this little battle you've had here.

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