This document discusses the history and evolution of music videos from the early 20th century to today. It traces how music videos started as live performances in films in the 1920s and expanded with animation and early analog recordings. Music videos came to prominence in the 1970s and now are a key marketing and promotional tool for artists, distributed through digital formats and social media platforms. Major record labels and online sites like YouTube have helped advance digital technologies and distribution to grow artists' audiences and sales.

1. Advanced Production: History of
Music Videos Research
Institutional Research: History of Music
Video
Background & Context: The Music Video
Evolution
BY STEPHANIE WILLMOTT

2. What is a Music Video?
• A short piece of film or video which showcases a
song. A music video promotes the artists music.
Modern and current music videos usually have
the purpose to advertise, attract and are used as
a marketing tool or strategy by companies to
increase an artists appeal, popularity and sales to
audiences. However traditionally music videos
had the pure function to tell a narrative and were
used for performance purposes. The links below
portray the history and evolution of music
videos.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGoaAFCQfow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb2akjZsl9k

3. Early History of Music on Film
• It was at the time in 1920’s America that the USA were
experiencing a period of economic prosperity which
therefore increased the revolution of media music
technologies. With the advent of talking movies which
started with Al Jolson in the movie “The Jazz Singer”,
1927 where for the first time an artist was heard and
seen to sing on celluloide. In the 1920’s live
performances were considered as the music video of
the time.

4. History Continued
• However it was in 1940 when Walt Disney
created the animation “Fantasia”. Other
earlier examples of musical animation
include Walt Disney’s “Silly Symphonies”
which was built upon music which
punctuated and enhanced the enjoyment
and excitement of the cartoon.

5. The Advent of the Music Video
• Jazz singer Louis Armstrong benefited from the Jazz
age because the development and increase in film
allowed singers to get their music and
performances recorded for example: “Mack the
Knife”, “When the Saints Go Marching In” and the
classic “What a Wonderful World” which was filmed
live whilst Armstrong was performing it in the late
1960’s. Early versions of analogue films and videos
have now been superseded by digital technology to
pave the way for digital music videos which can be
streamed, downloaded or burned onto DvD’s.
•

6. The Age of Digital Media- When did music videos first become an
integral part of the promotion and marketing of a music artist?
• However music videos came to the fore in the 1970’s .
• Nowadays music producers, record labels and
production companies all utilise digital technologies
to advance the media revolution through modern
uses of digital equipment and processes with the
ambition to achieve high quality creative standards
in digital music media. Recently music videos are
used to promote and advertise the music to help
market and brand the artists image and songs by
digitally enhancing the quality of the music.

7. Music in the Online Age
• Due to the evolution of the internet many artists utilise
the internet to promote and help market and
distribute their music in exchange for popularity and
audience loyalty to increase musical sales through
downloads and music streaming. The world wide web
gives the opportunity for artists to increase their
audience by allowing their fans to share their music
files thus increasing popularity through greater
exposure on various digital platforms.

8. Latest Digital Advancements in
Social Media
• The latest frontier for digital advancement has
come with the advent of social media which
has allowed for file sharing on a micro and
macro scale. The main players in social
media technology are: YouTube, Facebook,
Twitter, Spotify, itunes, Vimeo etc.

9. Taylor Swift has a massive following and she uses social media
platforms and app technology like: Twitter to market and advertise
her music.

10. Katy Perry has a massive
following and she uses social
media platforms and app
technology like: Twitter to
market and advertise her
music.

11. Lady Gaga has a massive
following and she uses social
media platforms and app
technology like: Twitter to
market and advertise her music.

12. Social Media
• By utilising social media, this can enhance the
popularity of an artist through word of mouth and in
some cases reviews by customers who have
downloaded music tracks. On Twitter there is the
option to “retweet” where audiences are given the
chance to comment and repost information onto
their own twitter page for their followers to view.
Therefore the individual benefits because their
Twitter page gets more views but also boosts the
artists popularity and brand identity. This is similar to
the social media sharing site- Facebook.

13. • YouTube which was founded in 2005, is a major
entertainment platform where audiences listen to
music videos which have been uploaded by either
professional or amateur artists to publicise their
talents and abilities within the music and
entertainment profession to enhance their
reputation. People can upload their music free of
charge because YouTube is the most recognisable
and well renowned digital platform.

14. • MTV is an American Digital cable and satellite channel
dedicated to the promotion of mainstream music
artists by the continuous playing of music videos.
The main demographic of the niche audience is
teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15-
24. The programmes are fronted by personalities
known as “Video Jockey’s” whose main aim is to
promote record sales to increase revenues for both
the artist and the station through advertising.
• 80.1% of households in America tune in to MTV as of
February 2015.

15. The Big Three Oligopoly - Sony, Universal, Warners
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6jz65YRCy8