Music videos have evolved over time from early films played over songs in the late 19th century to promotional tools for artists on MTV and YouTube. Some key developments include the first music video released in 1894 to promote a song, the introduction of "Soundies" in the 1940s which were coin-operated machines showing artist performances, and the impact of the Beatles film "A Hard Day's Night" in 1964 which helped establish the concept of artists playing themselves in music videos. Modern music videos are regularly uploaded to streaming platforms like YouTube to promote new songs and artists.

1. History of music videos
A music video is a short film with the song playing over the top of the
(The song can be diegetic or non-diegetic sound, depending on the
video). It is designed to be a promotional piece for the artist and the song.
Without a music video a song or artist would be less popular. For example,
the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" which was made by the band Queen.
the music video was released with it, the song went straight to number one
and stayed there for nine weeks.

2. Late 19th century
The very first music video was made in 1894 by Edward B
Marks and Joe Stern. It was called “The little lost child”. It was
comprised of images being played over the track. It was four
minutes long and sold more than 2 million copies of its
music.

3. 1940’s – 1946 – “Soundies”
“Soundies” are considered to be early music videos. They are
coin operated 16mm projection machines that were used in
public places like bars, pubs, night clubs, etc. They showed
three-minute black and white films on machines called
Panorams. This was a way of the public being able to see
favourite artist perform.

4. 1950’s - Tony Bennett
Bennett claimed he created the first music video when
himself walking along to the song “Stranger in Paradise” in
1956. The clip was then sent to UK and US TV stations and
was aired.

5. Elvis
The song “Jailhouse rock” was made in 1957 and was
advertised in a movie of the same name. The song went
straight to number one in most countries and sold more
2 million records. The music video featured Presley as the
main character and a large cast of male prisoners where
singing and dancing to “Jailhouse rock”.

6. Bob Dylan
Bob Dylans song “subterranean homesick blues” was made
1965. It’s music video was in the film “Don’t look back” in
1967. However, unlike must music videos it was not made as
part of the film like previous music videos. The film
documented Bob Dylan’s tour of England, the music video
was the first thing to be seen and it was not edited, just a
single shot of him with the lyrics on cards.

7. The Beatles
The Beatles made a comedy film called “A Hard Day’s Night”
in 1964 based on their lives and it showed their music videos
throughout the film. Instead of playing characters like Elvis
did, the Beatles played themselves. They were the first to do
this. This meant that in their music videos they were able to
switch between diegetic and non-diegetic sound without
difficultly. This marked a change were the artists would play
themselves in their music video.

8. Queen
A music video is designed to be a promotional piece for the
artist and the song. Without a music video a song will be
popular. The song "Bohemian Rhopsody" proved this which
was made by the band Queen. When the music video was
released with it, the song went straight to number one and
stayed there for nine weeks. It was shown on Top of the Pops
when the band couldn’t show up.

9. MTV
The first music video on music television (MTV) in 1981 was
the Buggles “video killed the radio star”. I believe that this
opened up a new promotional tool for artists as they was
a channel dedicated to music videos. The channel became
very popular and is still around today. Then other channels
started to do music video on television.

10. Music videos today
Since 2005 music videos have been introduced on YouTube.
However, there are still TV channels like 4music. Like the
introduction of MTV, YouTube was a revolutionary
promotional tool for artist. Since 2005 YouTube has grown
and music videos are uploaded daily.