The history of music videos began in the late 19th century with the use of still images in live performances to promote songs. In the 1940s and 1950s, "soundies" and films like "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" helped establish the music video genre. The 1960s saw the rise of promotional clips by artists like The Beatles and Bob Dylan. In 1981, MTV launched with "Video Killed the Radio Star" as its first video, popularizing the format. Modern platforms like YouTube from 2005 onward have allowed music videos to gain huge viewership numbers and become a primary method of song promotion.

1. The History of
Music Videos.

2. 1894 - 1959:
● Electrician George Thomas and multiple other performers were all hired in order to promote “The
Little Lost Child” that was created by an artist named Edward B. Instead of the moving pictures
(videos) we see today there were many still images being projected onto large screens during these
live performances.
● In the year of 1926 films of actors speaking rather than silent movies were introduced and these
short films were recognised as “talkies.”
● Later on in the 1940’s “soundies” were then produced and released fairly regularly and these would
often include many different features such as short dance sequences that members of the public
could follow along with to feel more involved, these were also predominantly used at events as an
element of entertainment.
● 1950’s was the year when music films firstly became most popular and helped to inspire many
popular music videos such as “Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend.” And in 1956 a man named Tony
Bennett claimed to have created the very first music video when he himself was filmed walking
around Hyde Park which was then later put with his original song “Strangers in Paradise.”

3. 1960 - 1960:
● Alex Murray in 1964 was pushing to promote his new version of “Go Now.” He produced a short film
clip which included very striking visual quality predating a Bohemian Rhapsody.
● A year later “Help” The Beatles second feature was made to be a lot more luxurious, it was filmed in
full colour in a variety of different international locations to make the video a lot more interesting and
of a higher quality. It has been argued that this is one of the main archetypes of the ‘modern music
videos’ as the video made the use of multiple technological elements such as an array camera shots
and angles, lighting features that had never really been used previously.
● Furthermore, in the year 1965 the Beatles also began to create promotional clips for distribution in
other countries, such as America, so that they could then be able to promote their new record
releases without having to make any personal appearances as these would’ve have costed both a
lot of time and effort for the band. These promotional clips began to progress and improve over time
due to the practice of repeatedly making them.

4. 1966 - 1973:
● Promotional clips began to make an increase in popularity in the year of 1966 as a variety of
different and artists/bands too began to use them such as: The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.
● Later on in the future (approximately 1972) popular artist David Bowie made four different
promotional clips with the help of a pop photographer named Mick Rock. The David Bowie songs
Space Oddity and Life on Mars? Were both released in the USA but they were both promoted very
differently using different clips showing again more of a progress in the development of music
videos.

5. 1981 - 1992:
● In 1981 “Video Killed The Radio Star” created by the Buggles was the very first music video to star
on the channel MTV. This channel then progressed onto airing more music videos making people
both more aware of the musical content and the actual channel itself.
● Later on in 1992 MTV started to list a variety of directors as well as the song credits, identifying the
facts that these new music videos have increasingly become a lot more popular after being featured
on the MTV channel. A few of the first directors to be mentioned on the channel were Spike Jonze
and Chris Cunningham.
2005 - 2007:
● The launch of Youtube occurred in 2005 which made music videos a whole lot easier to access, as
it made the viewing a lot faster. Youtube is now the predominant website in where music videos are
posted by the artist/agency and accessed by the viewers. Youtube has completely changed the
popularity of music videos increasing the views on each video and some popular artist’s video
reaching over 75 million views.
● Another channel called 4 Music then began in 2007 and this channel was made famous as it
broadcasted music videos 24 hours a day and globally.

6. 2012 - 2016:
● 2012 was the year that Psy’s Gangnam Style became the most viewed video on Youtube reaching
precisely 2,360,098,546 views.
● The present day of 2016 the Internet has become a primary source of both producing and accessing
music videos, not only Youtube but also new social media platforms such as: Instagram, Facebook
and Twitter. By using these social media apps/sites allows users to like, post and share music
videos of their choice, again heavily increasing the amount of views that music videos get. Although
it is great that so many people are able to share music videos with one another and for the artists to
see how popular their songs/videos are, nowadays it is hard to differentiate what songs are seen as
most popular due to the fact that so many get shared and accessed that the number of views begin
to look extremely similar.