Music videos are short films that relate imagery to a song, usually made for artistic and promotional purposes. They began as animated shorts that featured popular musicians performing their songs, and evolved into promotional clips made by artists like The Beatles in the 1960s. The launch of MTV in 1981 brought music videos into the mainstream as a central part of music marketing. Today, websites like YouTube have made it easier than ever to view and share music videos online, which many artists now rely on for free promotion and advertising.

1. The History of Music
Videos
Rheanon Green

2. A music video is a short film that features imagery that relates to the song, usually made for artistic and
promotional purposes. Modern day music videos are used for the purpose of marketing and advertising the
sale of music records.
Music videos can use a variety of styles of contemporary video creation, which include animation, live action,
documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos can blend different
styles, such as animation, music, and live action.
What Is A Music Video and What Are They Used For?

3. 1926 – 1959 : Talkies, Soundies and Shorts
Max Fleischer, an animation artist had begun a series of sing-along
short cartoons called Screen Songs, in which audiences were invited to
sing along to popular songs by following the bouncing ball over the
lyrics. In the early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians
performing their hit songs on camera in live action segments. The early
animated films by Walt Disney, such as Fantasia (1939), synchronise and
visualise interpretations.
In the mid 1940s, a musician named Louis Jordan created short films to
accompany his songs. According to Donald Clarke these films were
“ancestors” of music video. Tony Bennett had claimed to have created
“the first music video” in his autobiography. He was filmed walking
along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London in 1956.

4. 1960 – 1970 : Promotional Clips and Others
In 1961, Manny Pittson started pre – recording the music audio, then went on to location and filmed numerous
visuals with the musicians lip-synching, then he edited the sound together, this was for the Canadian show
Singalong Jubilee. Most music numbers at the time were filmed in a studio on stage and then location shoot
‘videos’ were to add diversity.
In 1965, The Beatles began creating promotional clips for distribution in to other countries, mainly the USA,
this was so they could promote their hits without making in person appearances. By the time The Beatles had
finished touring in 1966, their promotional films had become very stylish. In the year 1967 The Beatles then
went on to make colour promotional clips for the tracks ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’, this had
taken promotional clips to a new level.

5. 1981 – 1991 : Music Videos go Mainstream
1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched and aired ‘Video Killed
the Radio Star’, this was the beginning of an era of 24 hour a day
music on television. The music video would, by the mid 1980s grow
to be a central role in music marketing.
The key development of the contemporary music video, was the
development of relatively cheap and easy to use video recording and
editing equipment.
In 1984, MTV had launched the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA’s),
this annual awards event would emphasise MTV’s importance in the
music industry. The event rewarded The Beatles and David Bowie
with the ‘Video Vanguard Award’ for their work in pioneering the
music video.

6. 2005 – Present : The Internet Becomes Video Friendly
In 2005, the website YouTube launched, this made it easier and
faster for the viewing of music videos. Many artists found the
website to be successful as their songs were viewed mostly online.
Record labels uploaded their music videos to different online
outlets, this was seen as a way of free advertisement for their artists.
In the year 2009, Thirty Second to Mars’ music video ‘King and
Queens’ was uploaded to YouTube and on the very same day of its
release had been seen over 100,000,000 times. The song had been
featured on iTunes Store for video of the week and was one of the
most downloaded videos to ever have been featured.
The Internet has now become the main growth income market for
record company – produced music videos. Vevo is another website
launched by several music publishers, the videos on the website are
broadcasted to YouTube by sharing advertising revenues.