A brief history to get your started...

1. Music Videos
A Brief History

2. What is a music video?
• A music video (also video clip, promo ) is a short film
meant to present a visual representation of a popular
music song
• Music videos are a way of promoting and marketing a
group or song.

3. A history of Music Videos
• Music video has a history dating back to the earliest days
of sound film
• Early promotional shorts were sometimes set to music
and many early Disney films were based around songs
from upcoming films.

4. Soundies
• Another early form of music video were one-song films
called Soundies made in the 1940s for the Panoram
visual jukebox . Thousands of Soundies were made,
mostly of jazz musicians.

5. Soundies
• These were short
films of musical
selections, usually
just a band on a
movie-set
bandstand, made
for playing.

6. Soundies
• These jukeboxes
were in restaurants
and bars and people
played to watch the
clip while the music
played

7. First TV short music clips
• The very first short
musical films in the
USA made specifically
for television were the
Snader Telescriptions
More than 1000 short
musical presentations
were filmed for use as
television filler
between 1950 and
1954.

8. Musicals in Film
• Music centred
films, with
performance clips
in them became
popular in the
1950s also
• eg Elvis Presley
movies
eg Rock around the
Clock

9. Videos for Music Programmes
• Videos began to be
produced for music
programmes such as
Top of The Pops in
Britain and Hullabaloo
in the USA
• Promotional clips for
groups began to be
produced , especially
the Beatles in the
1960s and then other
groups in the 1970s

10. MTV 1981
• In 1981 , the U.S. video channel, MTV, was launched,
beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television

11. The first Music Video on MTV
The first video ever
played was The Buggles
“Music Killed the Radio
Star”
The video was shot in
one day and had only
played once previously
on Top of the Pops when
the single came out in
1979.

12. MTV and music videos
• Many of the earliest MTV
videos came from Great
Britain. The effect of
MTV and music videos
can be seen in the British
band Duran Duran. This
band had great visual
appeal and made
interesting videos but was
not receiving radio
airplay as of 1981.
Showing of the band’s
videos on MTV made it
immediately popular.

13. MTV and music videos
• The careers of many artists, including
• Madonna,
• Michael Jackson,
• Prince,
• Peter Gabriel,
• U2
as well as Duran Duran were promoted by MTV.

14. Music Videos today
• Music videos are central to the marketing of popular music
• MTV continues to be dominant and now reaches more than
320 million TV sets in 90 countries over 5 continents
• Downloading of videos off the internet is now common and
this is seen as a threat to the dominance of MTV

15. Does anyone buy CDs
anymore?

16. Cost of CDs
• Marketing of music is all important in
popular music and new releases need a
music video and TV time as well as music
time
• Note how much of the cost of a CD goes into
marketing and promotion(this would include
the video) and how much to the artist
• Where do you think the money goes in a £ 10
CD?
• Does anyone buy CDs anymore?

17. Music CDs the Cost