Brief history of music videos

1. HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEOS
• Music videos are essentially short
films which include a song and
imagery produced for promotional or
artistic purposes.
ORIGINS
In 1894 the first step towards music
video was made; George Thomas using a
magic lantern hired by Edward B. Marks
and Joe Stern projected a series of still
images on screen with at the same time
live performances and this was known as
the “Illustrated song”.
In 1981, MTV was the original startup. Despite launching as a
24/7 music television channel, Craig Marks and Rob
Tannenbaum describe how initially the network had only
“about a hundred” promotional clips, as the music videos “in
inventory, were mostly by marginal or unpopular British or
Australian bands.” MTV was forced to go to record labels and
ask them to make these videos for free, which they would then
go on to screen. At present day TV is in decline as the majority
of people use the internet for everything , especially for
watching music videos. Also more directors are eager to get
involved in the production of music videos and the advance in
technology means that music videos are increasing in their
experimental side.

2. Pre-MTV
The Beatles wanted to give their fans a 360’ experience with their music ,
therefore they would record promotional clips so that everyone in the
world could have access to them; this therefore led other bands to follow
their footsteps by also making promotional clips, for example “David
Bowie”. The most significant and historical music video during those times
would have been Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975. The music video
giant was released in 1981 “The Buggles” which demonstrated how the
advances in technology could be a cultural shift in society which were
then dominated by artists like Madonna and Michael Jackson. “Thriller”
acts as an origin story for what we recognize music videos for great artists
which have : high production values, Hollywood directors and a clear
narrative.
Later on MTV began to home many reality TV shows and stopped
broadcasting music videos. In 2005 Youtube was created and in 2009 Vevo
was born; with Vevo being born this meant that record labels could make
money off the videos being streamed. In December 2015 Youtube
overtook Google for being the most visited website, therefore this could
be the reason for the rise in innovative and experimental music videos
and this would make sense for record companies to focus on videos since
its one of the most valuable promotional tools for an artist.