You might be excited to have heard Dr. Dre's The Chronic legally streaming for the first time today on Beats 1, but you might have been disappointed to hear all the swearing bleeped out.
Apple's 24/7 online radio station Beats 1 debuted today, and like the traditional radio it hopes to remediate, it appears that swearing is a big no-no. I, along with many Twitter users, noticed that swears were being censored in the songs played on the station.
The first track I noticed with a word removed was Courtney Barnett's Dead Fox which had the line "But they're all pumped up with the s**t" edited. Many Twitter users tweeted about songs from Dr. Dre's The Chronic receiving similar treatment.
Listening to Dr Dre - Let Me Ride on Beats 1. It's hilarious with all the swearing edited out.— vneilv (@vneilv) June 30, 2015
Haha all the swearing is distored on Beats1- (Dr.Dre - Let Me Ride)— Leigh Hibell (@Madedigital) June 30, 2015
@guardiantech diverse enough, loving it! Shame they only play censored stuff on Beats 1 though, censored Dr Dre sounds almost satanic.— Ben Donkor (@FR314) June 30, 2015
Apple confirmed to Buzzfeed that it will be censoring the music it plays on Beats 1.
Apple confirms it's censoring explicit content on @Beats1 radio -- 24/7— John Paczkowski (@JohnPaczkowski) June 30, 2015
On the face, the decision makes sense because Apple is targeting Beats 1 at a broad audience, and it needs to appeal to (i.e. not offend) a huge swath of people. Profanity could rub many the wrong way, especially the families Apple is marketing heavily to.
Unlike terrestrial radio however, there's no regulation that would prevent Apple from playing uncensored music, and many feel that censoring isn't an accurate representation of the music itself. The "stations" in iTunes Radio, for example, include explicit lyrics, and The Chronic is quite a different record censored than uncensored.