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Inroduction to music videos
The very first types of music video were 'Talkies, Soundies and Shorts'.These started in 1926 and ended around 1956; shorts were the modern karaoke machine as they let audiences sing along to popular songs. Soundies(1940-47)were music films that included short dance sequences which is similar to modern era music videos. In the mid 40's, a muscian caled Louis Jordan produced videos for his songs and the videos have more recently been named the ancestors of music videos. -
Music Clips- First music video?
In 1956, Tony Bennett claims to have created 'The first music video'. He was filmed walking in Hyde Park and the clip was inserted into the song Stranger In Paradise which was then sent to the US and UK TV stations for it to be aired. Back then, the videos were called promos as they were created to literally promote the artist and help them get bigger to gather a following and audience -
David Bowie- Ashes to Ashes
At the time of producing this, it was the most expensive music video ever made.The cost for production came round to 582,000USD. The video changed creators perseptions as Bowie introduced solarised colours to music videos and the locations varied in the video from shores to padded rooms. The video is claimed to be a significant step in the evolution of video and has since inspired other artists. -
MTV- Video Killed The Radio Star
MTV is a TV station that played 24 hours a day worth of music. The very first song aired by MTV was 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. MTV is free and allowed the public to see all the new songs and music videos which enabled the songs and artists to grow popularity and their songs publicity making some artist such as Madonna famous. As technology wasn't as advanced, things like spotify didn't exist so the only hardware used to listen and watch music were jukeboxes and TV and radio. -
Social issues- David Bowie Michael Jackson
Music and videos back in the eaarly 80's heavily explored the then serious issues raised such as racism. Bowie released two songs; China girl and let's Dance. Both videos were subject to racism and Bowie wanted music to draw races together rather than start conflict and racial comments. In the same year,1983, Thriller was released. Thriller cost 800,000 USD to create and became one of the most iconic music videos to date but it changed how black artists were portrayed. -
Social issues- David Bowie Michael Jackson
Before the release of Thriller, it was extremely rare to see an African-American artist on MTV. After Thriller's release, however, more black men appeared on the show. Rick James thought that the whole situation was a case of racism after MTV refused to play his track 'Super Freak' -
Lyric Video
Lyric videos in current times are very popular as a second video to the main, story orientated music videos. An example 'Roar' by Katy Perry. They allow for the audience to see the words on screen so that they can sing to them and learn the song faster. Lyric videos are easier to create and usually are uploaded onto Youtube as it's the main video site. It is also rare for a lyric video to be the only video about the song as newer songs take up a narrative which is expressed in the music video. -
Lyric Videos
Music videos have changed over time from small, cheap productions with nothing really going on apart from a small narrative to expensive and creative ones. But, in the late 80's, lyric videos were being created. Lyric videos usually have a background with nothing but words popping up on screen as they are spoken. Prince created a lyric video with shapes floating around the screen. In the 90's, George Michael created a lyric video instead of a normal music video as he refused to make a real one. -
Youtube
YouTube is a website which enables creators to upload and share content . YouTube allows people to create accounts which can like and comment on the videos published ultimately leading to the publicity of the song which will hopefully boost sales of the single or album. It has helped music in a very good way as people can view the content for free and can also share it easily onto social media platforms. Some creators also film behind the scenes showing viewers an insight on how the film is made -
Spotify
Spotify is a music service that allows for free streaming of music. It allows for pretty much every song to be streamed and listened to by the public. At this current time, there are over 50 million paying subscribers paying for spotify which shows just how big Spotify is as there are millions of users who don't pay and have free access to music too. The app has changed how people listen to music as now you can listen to it without internet connection and it can be downloaded onto your phone.