The History of Music Videos

What is a music video?A music video is a short video or film that compliments a piece

of music, usually a song with imagery.

What are they used for?Older music videos were used simply to entertain but are now

used as a marketing strategy to promote a song or album.

When did music videos originate?They originated in the early 1920’s with short videos which

were usually called ‘illustrated songs’.

The First Music Video

The ‘first’ music video was filmed at Thomas Edison’s studio in 1895 on a device that was developed in his lab, the Kinetophone. The device was invented by William Dickson and showed moving pictures which was fitted with a phonograph. In the film, Dickson plays music on a violin from a popular operetta with two men dancing beside him. The soundtrack for the video was recorded separately on a wax cylinder which went missing for several decades until it turned up at the Edison National Historical Site in the early 1960’s. The video was then completed with music in 1998, however it was never released due to the Kinetophone never catching on with consumers.

The Kinetophone in action.

Thomas Edison William Dickson

Early Music Video

Bessie Smith was a blues singer who featured in a two-reel short film called ‘Saint Louis Blues’ that was shown in

theatres from 1929 to 1932.

The Beatles in the 1960’s

Short music-films had been produced prior to the music video for ‘A hard days night’ by the Beatles in 1964 but its

been claimed that this was the beginning of the music videos we know today. The following year they made

another video in an attempt to promote their songs instead of having to cram in lots of public appearances on TV shows

around the world into their busy schedules.

Then and Now

The way we see music videos now has changed a lot since the 1920’s. Now we can simply click a button and watch music videos

online but it wasn’t so easy back then.

1920’s – 1950s: to see a music video you would have to go to a ‘soundie’ - musical film

1960’s – 1990’s: you were able to see music videos on your TV at this point, usually on shows such as Top of the Pops and from 1981, MTV

2000’s + : you can now simply go onto any music website or app such as YouTube and type in any music video to watch whenever you want

MTV• Launched in the USA in 1981• Began as a TV show that showed music videos for 24 hours

a day • The first music video to be shown was Buggles – ‘Video

Killed The Radio Star’• Many videos shown were from the UK such as ‘Duran

Duran’ which gained them popularity and support in the USA

• Other videos that were shown at the start of MTV: The Who – ‘You better you bet’ Rod Stewart – ‘Sailing’

THRILLER In 1983 Michael Jackson's ‘Thriller’ was the most

successful video released at that time. It was directed by John Landis and was named the ‘watershed moment for the music industry’. This video set high standards as the setting and format of the video were so much better then any music videos released before it.

Modern VideosThe advanced progress in technology has meant that music videos

now include better effects and editing whereas back when the first video was made, they didn’t have nothing but a recording device. This is a huge advantage because it is more appealing to an audience and is more enjoyable to watch. Music videos today are a huge helping hand to promote a certain artist or song, it seems the more outrageous and odd, the better. Examples of modern artists who use this method to promote are Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.