Aycan Mehmet

What is a music video?A music video, as we know it today, is a short piece

of film that the artist/band use to promote singles

from an album.

There has been a lot of evolution since the dawn of

music videos and this will be explored in this

PowerPoint

Early Days-1940-1960Soundies were produced for most of the 40’s

These were musical films that had short dance numbers which is similar to the music video of today.

In the mid 1940s,Louis Johnson used to make short films for his songs in which some were put together to make a feature film ‘Lookout Sister’.

Musical films are also connected with the music video and many artists have tried to imitate this style in their music video like Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’

1957 saw the dawn of Elvis Presley’s ‘Jailhouse Rock’ which some consider the first music video.

1960’sThe birth of the Scopitione allowed for artists in

France to display their videos. This was passed on

and patented in other countries like Italy and USA.

‘The Monkees’ (1966–1968) was one of the first

shows that consisted of film segments that

accompanies songs from the band.

The 60’s saw The Rolling Stones made promotional

clips in which they featured in.

1970’s-Early Music televisionAustralia had two TV shows ‘Countdown’ and ‘Sounds’ that premiered in 1974. This is one of the first examples of artists promoting songs.

As it gained popularity, Countdown talent coordinator Ian "Molly" Meldrum and producer Michael Shrimpton saw that music videos were the new fad in music marketing. This lead to the show creating making music videos especially for the show.

Top of the Pops, was the British equivalent and they also created specially made music videos for the show. ‘Bohemian Rhaposdy’ by Queen was premiered on the show and is considered the ‘first proper music video’.

1980’s-THE RISE OF MTVMTV is an American cable channel which has now globalised across the globe. It was the first channel of its kind which played ‘music videos’ back to back 24/7. This channel became the centre of music marketing.

1983-Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller ‘ was released. The video lasts nearly 14 minutes and is considered the most successful, influential and iconic music video of all time.

Soon MTV gave music shows to particular music genre’s such as Headbanger’s Ball for the metal of the day. MTV also gave artists unplugged sessions MTV Unplugged and this was broadcasted on the channel

1990-Early 2000’sMTV began crediting directors in the music videos

During this period, MTV launched channels around

the world to show music videos produced in each

local market: MTV Latin America in 1993, MTV

India in 1996, and MTV Mandarin in 1997, among

others. MTV2, originally called "M2" and meant to

show more alternative and older music videos,

debuted in 1996.

2005-Present Day-The rise of

Internet fameNapster, a P2P file sharing service, enabled the users to share the music videos. This medium got shut down due to the various lawsuits against it.

YouTube was founded in 2005. This allowed for easier file sharing and allowed users to see the most popular videos. The most popular music video that has been viewed is PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ where it has obtained over 2 billion views.

Vevo, a specified music video website, was launched in 2009. Artists have their own Vevo channel in which HD videos are uploaded to be viewed.