Brief outline of the History of Music Videos

1. History of Music
Videos
Joe Reeves

2. Music video’s in the 1980s
• The 80s were possibly the most significant era
for music videos as they played a vital role, and
still do to some extent, in the marketing of an
artist.
• Many academics have suggested that music
videos are similar to short films in that they often
have a story line and involve excellent
cinematography.

3. Music videos in the 1980s
• In the 80s Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and
Madonna owe a great deal of their success to
their music videos as they really took advantage
and made them appeal to audiences. They all
used different visuals that hadn’t really been
seen before.

4. MTV
• MTV are a television station that aired music
videos.
• First music video aired was “Video Killed the
Radio Star” by The Buggles in August 1980
• MTV promoted the artist’s with music videos as
thousands of people watched it to see these
videos

5. Michael Jackson - Thriller
• Thriller by Michael Jackson is one of the most iconic and
famous music videos ever.
• This video was one of the first videos to have an actual story
line behind it. This music video is like a short film with actors
and dancers and other sounds not in the song.
• Released on 2nd December 1983 and was 13 minutes long

6. YouTube
• In February 2004 YouTube was first invented.
• YouTube has helped artist’s gain a following and
a fan base as they are able to release their own
music videos onto this network.
• Anyone can access these music videos
• Videos get millions of views