The history of music videos

1. History of Music
Videos

2. What is a music video?
• A short film or video that accompanies a
piece of music, usually a song.
• Modern music videos are usually used to
promote and advertise a song.
• Music videos are often released after the
song.
• Music videos are often referred to as
promotional videos or promos.

3. 1894
• During this year sheet music publishers Edward
B and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas
and many other performers to promote the sale of
their music.
• In this music video they used a magic lantern to
project small images onto a screen at the same
time as live performances.
• This was the begging of music videos.

4. 1929
• During this year blues singer Bessie Smith
appeared in a short film called St. Louis Blues.
• This music video featured a dramatized
performance of the song.
• It continued to be shown in theatres until 1932.

5. 1940
• During this year Walt Disney released Fantasia.
• This is an animated film based around pieces if
classical music.
• This was one of the first films made by Walt
Disney featuring Mickey Mouse.

6. 1950’s and 1960’s
• In 1956 Tony Bennet was filmed walking along the
Serpentine in Hyde Park, London as his recording of
Stranger in Paradise played. This was distributed and
shown on UK and US TV. He later went on to claim that
he made the first music video.
• The defining work in modern music videos was the
Beatles first motion picture A Hard Days Night which
was released in 1964. This film influenced many modern
musicians.
• This was when modern music videos first began to
become popular.

7. 1970’s
• This was the beginning of the Modern Era of music videos.
• In the UK Top of the Pops began to promote songs. This
created a competitive environment and bands and solo artists
began to compete against each other. A good video would make
the songs more popular.
• Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen started to modern era of using
music videos as promo videos.
• During this decade Australian TV developed and popularised
music video genres and established the importance of music
video releases to promote acts and new releases.

8. 1980’s
• In 1981 MTV was launched. The first music video to be
played on this was Video Killed the Radio Star by
Buggles.
• In the mid 1980’s artists started using more sophisticated
effects in their videos and began to introduce storylines
or plots.
• Michael Jackson was the first artist to create the concept
of a short film with his video for the song Billie Jean. A
short film is a music video that has a beginning middle
and end.

9. 1990’s and 2000’s
• The amount of directors for music videos
increased and more and more artists began to
make them. Nearly all music that was released
had a music video to accompany it.
• MTV began to list with an artist and a song
which helped to kick start their careers.

10. 2010 onwards
• Nearly every artist now makes music videos for
their songs. This helps them to promote their
songs.
• Different types of music videos are made by
different types of artists. Different types of music
videos appeal to different people.
• The internet has become more music video
friendly as they are now easily accessible via
websites like YouTube and Facebook.