History of Music Videos

History of Music Videos

After the creation of cinematography in the late 1800s by the Lumiere brothers in France, film and cinema has since developed as technology has since been on the rise. The art of film has since coined the phrase 'the seventh art' from Italian philosopher Riccioto Canudo. To promote the song, 'the little lost child', Joe Stern and Edward B Marks hired an electrician George Thomas in 1894 to have a revolving lantern which would display an array of images. Then came the 'talkies'- which were motion pictures with sounds- so, there was a rise in musical short films. Soon came live action music shorts that were shown in cinema featuring such popular artists as Cab Calloway. Soundies were then released for jukeboxes which were three-minute performance videos. Then there were short films released to promote songs. All of these were considered grandfathers of the music video. 

Who were they for?

In 1964, there was the start of the TV show Top Of The Pops in Britain. This required the regular performances of British and American musicians and bands. However, due to their busy schedules with tour and their high demand, it was not convenient for artists to be doing performances in person. Therefore, they filmed 'promotional' videos to show to the public to replace the usual live performances. Then in 1964,the decision to incorporate dance troupes with choreographed dances in the promotional video added the visual aspect of entertainment when performing music or presenting music to the public. The Beatles especially led the way with the development of music videos as they incorporated dramatic angles and lighting, slow motion and reversed clips in their promotional videos for Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-rB0pHI9fU

Music Videos Go Mainstream

     In 1981, the US launched the TV channel MTV, where they would broadcast music for 24 hours a day. TVs were accessible to most people in developed country during this point in time and most households owned one, so music videos could now be shared to all and rise in popularity. Due to this, music videos became an essential part of music marketing and capturing the attentions of audiences to listen to music. The introduction of inexpensive and easy to make music videos, especially with the easy editing and filming equipment, made music videos very accessible to all. This allowed up and coming artists to make their own music videos without needed the large budgets of already popular artists. As music videos became more popular, directors and artists began creating videos with storylines which contradicted the original purpose of music videos which was to promote the artist. Early examples of this would be Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen or The Chauffuer by Duran Duran.

Downloads and Streaming

From 2005, downloading music and music videos became available through applications such as iFilm and Napster. Music videos had gone from being promotional short films on jukeboxes for the middle-class population to being a visual art to present and market songs to the public. Technology continued to develop with the creation of YouTube in 2005 and the iPhone in 2007. With the mobile phone becoming more versatile, more people were having access to music videos without having to use large, chunky computers or watching TV. Apple had decided to capitalise on this as they released the iTunes Store, where music videos were also available to stream. With YouTube, artists were able to make a profit off their music videos with the introduction of monetising views and subscribers. This also allowed larger companies such as YouTube, Google and Vevo (launched in 2009) to profit off videos and distribute money between themselves.