History of Music Videos

1. HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEOS

2. WHAT IS A MUSIC VIDEO?
• A MUSIC VIDEO IS MOVING IMAGES THAT IS TYPICALLY ACCOMPANIED BY
MUSIC. THE VIDEO CAN FEATURE NARRATIVE, PERFORMANCE OR CAN BE
CONTINUATIONS FROM PREVIOUS VIDEOS. THESE TYPICALLY USED AS SOME
KIND OF PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE AN ARTIST OR THEIR WORK.
• AN ARTIST WILL TRY AND SELL THEMSELVES TO MOSTLY DRIVE SALES OF TOUR
AND MERCH. THEREFORE, A LOT OF PROMOTIONS AND DEALS ARE MADE
THROUGH MUSIC VIDEOS. THIS IS TYPICALLY WHERE FUNDING COMES FROM
FOR LARGER ARTISTS. FOR EXAMPLE VIRGIN SPONSORED THE “TELEPHONE”
MUSIC VIDEO BY LADY GAGA, ALLOWING HER TO CREATE A LARGE SCALE MUSIC
VIDEO AND GENERATE HEAPS OF HYPE FOR HERSELF.

3. August
1st,1981
MTV was
launched on TV,
first video played
was “video killed
the radio star”
MTV were at a lack
of content, they
went on to ask
labels to create
these music
videos for free in
which they would
December 2nd
1983
Michael Jackson
releases his video
for “Thriller”. This
was the starting
point for many
music videos that
we see today…..
This introduced
high production
value, narrative
and high budgets.
In comparison to
others at the time
Thriller cost
1987, Peter Gabriel
releases his music
video for
“Sledgehammer”
which is arguably
less beloved today
but went on to
make history….
Music videos were continued
to be made under the same
formula and were not given
too much attention with a
few exceptions to artists
such as Madonna in the 90s
who used a wide range of
techniques such as
voyeurism to create word of
mouth about their celebrity
image
The video went on
to win 9 MTV
awards for the
video, a number
that still stands
today as one of the
highest. It is also

4. In 2005, former PayPal workers
Steve Chen and Jawed Karim
created a video hosting website
called “YouTube”. This website
had the intention of being a
place for people to upload their
own home videos. However
when YouTube was acquired by
Google. Vevo was created
Vevo meant that labels could
make money on their videos
being streamed. This money
came from small
advertisements that appear
before a video or during.
With music videos being
shameless promotion for
an artist’s image, merch
and work it would make
sense to put out as many
videos as possible……
This could arguably be the reason
why there is such a rise in
innovative and high budget music
videos; the videos themselves are
so much more accessible by the
audience with so many people
being prompted to watch its hard
to miss when a new music video is
released
Artists such as Gaga, Britney and Katy Perry all take
full advantage of this platform, creating almost
short movies to accompany their music. However,
in 2016 Beyoncé decided to make a whole “visual
album” this meant that EVERY song was
accompanied by a video meaning that Beyoncé was
not only promoting herself but also her music in a
completely new way. This received great critical
response and encouraged a surge of more
innovative and diverse ways of promotion for
artists.