History Of Music Videos

In 1894, sheet music publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various performers to promote their song 'The Little Lost Child'. Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would soon become a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song, the very first step towards music videos.

In 1926, with the arrival of sound films, many musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts, a sound film process produced by Warner Bros, featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. 'Spooney Melodies', in 1930, was the first true musical video series. Shorts were usually six minutes long in duration, and featured Art Deco-style animations and backgrounds combined with film of the performer singing.

Another early form of music video were one-song films called "promotional clips" made in the 1940's. There were short films of musical selections featuring usually just the band. These were very popular amongst jazz musicians, but also with comedians and dancers.

Musical films were also very influential to the rise of music videos, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930's to the 1950's. One of the best-known examples is Madonna's 1985 video for 'Material Girl', which was closely modelled off of Marilyn Monroe's version of 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.'

In the late 1970's, the long-running British television show Top of the Pops began playing music videos, although the BBC placed strict limits on the number of 'outsourced' videos TOTP could use. Therefore, a good video would increase the sales of a song as the viewers wanted to see it again the following week.

In 1981, the American video channel MTV launched, airing 'Video Killed The Radio Star' and beginning an era of twenty-four hour a day music on television. By the mid 1980's, music videos grew to play a central role in popular music marketing, thanks to the new outlet it had.

In December 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auter's medium.


Information taken from Wikipedia.