The history of music videos coursework.

1. THE HISTORY OF
MUSIC VIDEOS

2. It is a short film or video which accompanies a
piece of music or a song. A video or short film can
be used to promote an artist or for the audience to
give them a visual image to gain more
understanding of the song. In the 1950’s musical
short films were shown at the cinema and to
promote an artist or song they would star in a film
and the narrative would allow for there songs to be
performed. Music videos were primarily for
promotional purposes and this was obvious as only
the big stars were able to use them, but now music
videos are used very regularly still for promotional
purposes but anyone can make them.
WHAT IS A MUSIC VIDEO?

3. Musical short films started in
the1920’s.
Music films were a big thing in the
industry around the 1950’s.
Music videos or ‘promos’ did not come
around until the 1980’s.
OVERVIEW

4. It is said that the first proper music video came about in 1925 which is ‘St. Louis Blues
by Bessie Smith’. In the mid 1950’s musicals became a dominant genre in the film
industry, for example, when Elvis was extremely popular, he was not allowed to leave
the country to tour world wide, so, he used the film industry to promote him self as a
brand and to make his music more world wide to created a wider audience, which in the
end would make him more money.
In 1963 Cliff Richards short promotional musical film was based around his popular song
‘Summer Holiday’ in the short film, the narrative stops to make room for the performance
element, this is also what happened with most of the other promotional short films as it
was the only way to make an artist become known world wide.
The Beatles released ‘Help!’ in 1965 with a promotional short film to help with the album
release and sales.
The break through between musical short films and music videos was when Bob Dylan
released ‘subterranean homesick blues’ in 1967 (filmed 1965).
DATING BACK TO THE
1920’S

5. VIDEOS
Click on the images for the video.

6. TV has played a big part in the music industry. Stars like Madonna and Duran Duran owe their
careers to MTV as it was a major help for them breaking in to the music industry. The television
show made music more about the videos and promotional schemes rather than just about the
music, because people want to see visuals so it can help them understand the song more or
because the narrative is interesting and makes the song more exiting for the consumers.
Also at the time of its release it was one of the main things to listen to music and to watch the
videos.
In the modern day MTV is now used about 10% or less for music videos, this could be because
of the up rise of the internet for example YouTube and Spotify because people can now get
music on demand and there are a lot of music channels there is no need for the programme to
play as much music instead it stays current with shows that teens want to consume e.g. ‘Ex on
the beach’, ‘16 and pregnant’ and ‘teen mom’.
MUSIC TELEVISION

7.  Since the first music videos, technology has
come a long way which has helped the industry
in many ways. Now that we have better
technology, it is easier to create music videos
and more people are able to create them, it
would be unusual to find an artist that does not
have at least one music video, especially from
an individual label as it is an extremely good
way to promote the artists that they have
signed. This is because anyone could view it if
they are just flicking through a music site, e.g.
YouTube, it is easier to find major labels
because they have more hits and a lot of there
videos show up on the YouTube home page. A
good music video can, potentially, increase the
sales of the particular song or its position in the
charts, for example, Take Me To Church was
recorded in 2013 and was in the Irish Charts at
number 1 and 2, but became popular in the
British Charts after featuring on a ‘Beats’ advert
when the video came out it came out.
MUSIC VIDEOS NOW
2nd October 2015

8.  YouTube has played a big part in music videos as without it, we would not be able to
view videos on demand, it can take as little as four clicks and one word typed in to
the internet to view a music video. Also because of hardware technology such as
mobile phones and how advanced they have become we can download the app and
within two taps be watching a music video. This has had extreme impact on the music
industry because of how much we can consume and how quickly it is to consume it,
but it also means that music videos are extremely easy to access and view. Now
anyone can make, view, like and dislike music videos which also helps the industry's
know what is in demand and what the target audiences want to see.
YOUTUBE

9. TIMELINE (833)
Musical short films
(1920’s/30’s)
Musical films
(1950’s)
MTV
(1981)
The Beatles
(1965)
Cliff Richards
(1963)
Bob Dylan
(1967)
YouTube
(2005)
Spotify
(2008)
Queen Bohemian
Rhapsody (1975)
Thriller
(1983)
This is known as the
time of musicals as,
they wove the songs
in to the narrative.
Musical films were used for
promotional purposes for artists.
A short film would be played
before an actual film to get the
artist publicity and known to a
wider spread audience.
Cliff Richards
promotional ‘Summer
Holiday’ short film came
out to promote his song,
the film has a short
break in the narrative to
include the music.
The Beatles bought out a short
promo film that was released in
many countries as they did not
wish to travel to promote there
brand. They also had a song
televised on TV but as it was
meant to be in colour the
audience didn’t consume it well
because most people had black
and white TV’s.
Sub terrain home sick
blues is considered to
be one of the first
proper music
promotional video, it is
made up of one take.
The hit Queen song
was not popular
with the audience
until the
promotional video
was released and
the song went to the
top of the charts.
MTV helped bring the
music industry forwards
as it televised videos
and promoted them for
the artists with little
fuss.
Spotify like MTV and
YouTube has helped
revolutionise the
music industry.
Thriller was
one of the first
videos to have
a narrative
story line.
The invention of YouTube
has helped many artists
become popular and
earn more money as
every time the artist gets
a view on a music video
they earn money. It has
also revolutionised the
way audiences can
consume music as it is
on demand.

10.  In todays modern society compared to when the first music video came out a lot has changed.
When music videos first came out they were strictly for promotional purposes and barley
contained any element of narrative. As they have evolved music videos are still for promotional
purposes but they have the added effect of making the industry a lot of money, depending on
the views, and how many times it can be viewed, also in the modern day music videos are more
dependant on narrative and performance elements to make it more interesting for the audience
to consume. Now, compared to when the fist music videos came out, the typical video has
something to do with a break up and a video is portrayed in more of a provocative manner, this
is seen in the majority of modern day music videos.
HOW HAVE MUSIC VIDEOS
EVOLVED?