media

1. History of music videos

2. What is a music video?
A music video is a short film including both a song and imagery. They were produced for
promotional or artistic purposes and are a great marketing device for artists to promote their
music.
Although the first music videos date back to the 1920’s, they came into popularity in the 1980’s
when MTV started showing them.
Prior to the 1980s, music videos were referred to as "illustrated song", "filmed insert",
"promotional film", "song video” or "film clip".

3. What is the most watched music video of
all time?
Luis Fonsi - Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee
It has over 3.3 billion
views on YouTube as
of August 20, 2017

4. 1920’s
The earliest form of a music video was produced in the 1920’s which was an animated film
accompanied by music, this was labelled ‘visual music’.
Many music short films were produced by Warner Bros, and Walt Disney.
Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in one of the fist ever music videos in 1929 called ‘St. Louis
Blues’.

5. 1930’s
In the 1930’s, popular musicians were featured performing their songs during parts of early
cartoons. Many of Walt Disney's animated films involved classical pieces of music, such as
silly symphonies and Looney tunes.

6. 1950’s and 60’s
Tony Bennett claims to have created "the first music video" after being filmed walking
along Hyde Park in London in 1956. This clip was then paired with the song "Stranger in
Paradise“ to create the music video.The clip was sent to UK and US television stations
and aired on shows including Dick Clark's American Bandstand.
In 1964, The Beatles starred in their first feature film for ‘A Hard Days Night’ which was
filmed in black and white. Their second music video for ‘Help!’ was much more modern
as it was shot in colour in 1965, therefore the Beatles helped define music videos.

7. 1970’s
In 1975, the British rock band Queen employed Bruce Gowers to make a promotional video to
show their new single "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the BBC music series Top of the Pops. Paul
Fowles claimed that the song is "widely credited as the first global hit single for which an
accompanying video was central to the marketing strategy“.

8. 1980’s
David Bowie's song "Ashes to Ashes" became the first music video to have a production cost of
over $500,000 in 1980.
In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and beginning
an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. This new music on TV trend played an important
role in popular music marketing.
Many successful stars such as Adam and the ants, and Madonna used their music videos to
boost their careers and become bigger names. Music videos started to become a gateway for
artists to popularize their music.

9. 1990’s
In 1992, MTV began crediting directors along with the artists, as music videos had
quickly become an important part of the industry. Therefore, directors such as Chris
Cunningham, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Floria Sigismondi, Stéphane
Sednaoui, Mark Romanek and Hype Williams all began their journey around this time.

10. 2000’s
MTV hits is launched in 2002 and starts showing many music videos.
In 2005, the website YouTube was launched with made access to music videos much
quicker and easier.
In 2010, lyrics videos became a prominent part of he industry, despite rarely having any
visual relevance to the song, and just showing lyrics on screen.