History of Music Videos

Here is a very brief summary of the History of music videos. I have written a more indepth summary. To read this please use the following link - http://nfgspuma.blogspot.com/p/graces-history-of-music-videos.html

With the invention of sound films in 1926, allot of musical short films were produced.
Although music videos only really came to life in the 1980s, when such channels as MTV and VH1 based their format around them.
Music videos are now mainly used to advertise and promote the song/artist(s).

They are made in very different ways, some with plots and some completely abstract, using various techniques, such as documentaries or animations.
Some choose to do only one technique throughout the whole video, an example being Mika's track 'Lollipop'

But some videos (more often than not) have combined one technique with another, for example animation and real life.

In 1964, The Beatles starred in their first feature film A Hard Days Night. It was directed by Richard Lester and was shot in black and white and was presented as a mock documentary.
It has had a huge influence on the style and visual vocabulary of the genre.

Top of the pops started showing videos in the late 1970s, a good video would increase song sales as viewers wanted to see it again.
In 1975, Queen made a promo video for their single Bohemian Rhapsody to show it on TOTP.

U.S video channels were formed and played 'video killed the radio star' which was titled to the rise of music videos and this brought about the era of 24/7 music videos on television.
Artists saw this as a new way to improve their audience and boost their sales, most also used videos to their advantage creating a large fan base.

Most directors and artists in this time try to explore and expand music videos, the most successful video of this time was Micheal Jackson's Thriller video, which set a new standard.

The Internet has now taken over from television as the most popular way to watch music videos, with such things as peer to peer sharing and the release of YouTube in 2005 and myspace in 2007. Some artists have found success through such sites, and producer and artists are now aware of the impact of the Internet.
iTunes provides music videos in high quality to be watched via the iTunes application. They have also begun selling music videos for iPods.