WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos

for

From: Guy Hickling
Date: Oct 13, 2020 2:53PM

Then there is the other kind of video where the information is given
entirely visually on screen with no speech, but there is background music
that is purely decorative. It's often done in company presentations, for
instance. The music doesn't convey atmosphere or any emotion. (It often
just provides a heavy beat. Probably just so there is a sound of some sort
even though it doesn't mean anything.)

I have never asked that there should be any reference in the captions to
such music, but I am pondering that as a result of this thread. I suppose a
person with partial deafness might possibly like to know music is present
so they can turn it right up to listen, or turn up whatever aid they have.

However it has always seemed to me to be a bit over the top to ask someone
to go to the trouble of amending their video's captions just to insert
"[music]" in such cases. Yes, maybe, if it is meaningful music conveying an
emotion or effect (in which case insert "[sad music]" or whatever). But not
for purely decorative music. What do people think?