The History of Music Videos

The primary focus of a music video is to sell the artist rather than the song itself. Music videos

create a representation of the artist, which helps them gain popularity with audiences. The history

of music videos links to the proliferation of technology. For example, the rise in proliferation in television, portable CD players, etc. allowed music videos to start out and be accessible by

worldwide audiences.

1950s & 60sBefore music videos came about, audiences had to go to the cinema to see their favourite artists. This was because artists would take to acting roles in feature films in order to gain worldwide popularity. An example of this is Elvis, who made his first acting debut in ‘Love Me Tender’ in 1956. In total, Elvis featured in 33 films. The Beatles are another example of artists who used the medium of film to promote themselves before music videos existed. However, in their films they would play themselves rather than play a character as part of a narrative. In 1964, they released A Hard Day’s Night, which for the audience was almost like viewing a day in the life of The Beatles. The film contained all original songs, and it was revolutionary in that it changed the representation of how artists presented themselves. In addition, The Beatles also released the album of the same name at the same time as the film release. This shows that the use of synergy was being used as early as the 60s.

1960s (Continued…)

The Beatles and other artists, who produced promo films and early videos, can also be credited with being majorly influential in establishing the conventions of music videos. For example, in The Beatles’ short promo film for their single ‘Paperback Writer’ in 1965, there is the use of performance, montage editing, specific camera shots (e.g. close-ups), and mise-en-scene related to instruments, all of which appear in contemporary music videos.

1970sIn 1975, came the release of the music video for Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on Top of the Pops. This is generally considered to be were music videos began, as it technically was the first one in video tape format. Bohemian Rhapsody set the conventions for music videos of the rock genre. An example of this is how within the video, there are a lot of low angle shots which make the artists dominant in the frame, highlighting their new-found dominance in the world of music. There are also lots of lighting and silhouette effects used, as well as the video being edited to the beat. £4000 was spent on creating this music video, which was a large budget at the time it was produced, and this was clear by the better quality of the video and the complex effects used, compared to some of the earlier promo videos which artists released. Furthermore, when Queen released Bohemian Rhapsody as a single, without a video, it only reached number twelve on the singles chart. However, when the music video was released, the single shot straight up to number one, and stayed there for nine weeks. Therefore, this shows the power music videos have, even way back when they were a new form of medium.

1980sIt wasn’t actually until the early 1980s, when MTV started out, that music videos became an integral and important part of music culture. This new medium brought synergy and cross media convergence into the music industry. MTV allowed artists to promote their songs on television rather than radio. This meant that artists began to get exposure through visual means rather than their music. Image and representation became increasingly more important. Artists began creating an iconic image for themselves, which would help them gain worldwide popularity and turn them from an artist into a star. An example of this is Madonna. In her ‘Vogue’ video, image is the key concept. She uses 1940s iconography, such as Marilyn Monroe, and therefore places herself into the same category as these icons. The video is purely visual, as there are no instruments or musical equipment present, keeping the focus on ‘the look’ rather than the music. Additionally, after the release of ‘Vogue’, a craze of ‘voguing’ spread worldwide. This is a perfect example of how music videos started to effect the way people behaved, reflecting the rapid development of their importance in the world by this point. Videos started selling the song, rather than the other way round.

1980s (Continued…)Music videos then entered a new territory, with the release of Michael Jackson’s 13 minute long video for Thriller in 1983. It had a budget of $500,000, which was very high for the time. The video is often named the most influential video of all time. Within the video, there are cross overs of different mediums, as it incorporates film too. No one had seen anything like it before, with several levels of diegesis, very complex mise-en-scene (especially the use of makeup), and the use of elaborate choreography and performance, alongside the narrative. As well as making a huge impact in the world of music, it also used iconography of horror, helping to push the boundaries in the horror genre as a whole. In addition, the Thriller video tends to be considered as post-modern in style.

2000s – Present DayBy the mid-2000s, convergence became more significant as MTV and its sister channels focused less on showing music videos like they did in their early years, and more on other mediums, such as Reality TV. Due to this, music videos began to be marketed online, on platforms such as YouTube. YouTube was also a massive development in terms of the production values of the music video. Now that music videos had taken to the internet, they could become viral, and reach audiences worldwide within a matter of seconds. Therefore, this was an incredibly positive development for artists and their record labels. An example of a music video that went viral is Gangnam Style by Psy. The video was released in 2012, and quickly gained millions of views. Now in 2014, it has reached over 2 billion views. Despite the vast use of the internet to view music videos, there are still television channels dedicated to music videos, but they are less popular and common these days. In fact, some artists have moved away from filmic high production value format and started using ‘Lo-Fi’ internet clips instead. Furthermore, music videos are an element of an overall marketing strategy but due to their major growth in popularity and importance, they can now be considered as a genre with their own sub-genres within it.

Continued…Years on, and looking at contemporary music videos, there are still major similarities to the early products that put music videos on the map. Despite us having more complex technology, bigger budgets and access to a wider range of mediums nowadays, the conventions which early music videos established are still followed. A couple of examples of more modern music videos are Beyoncé – Single Ladies, and Ok Go – The Writing’s on the Wall. In the Single Ladies video, Beyoncé goes back to basics. It is completely performance based, and the mise-en-scene and editing are very simplistic. However, this simplicity is very fresh and effective, and is like a breath of fresh air in comparison to the complex and sometimes frantic videos a lot of artists produce these days. This makes the video memorable, and sells the artist in this way. In the video for The Writing’s on the Wall, the band uses just one shot throughout the whole thing. The lack of cinematography and editing is complemented by the extremely well thought out and complex mise-en-scene, as the way they manipulate their surroundings makes up the video, so the video stands out from the crowd in this way. Therefore, modern day music videos incorporate the conventions and specific aspects of the early music videos, but put a contemporary twist on it to keep it up to date. In this way, music videos are continually developing.