Music video history

By as101

  • Illustrated songs

    Pictures and silent clips were shown alongside music in cinemas to promote sheet music. These were projected wsith glass slides as pianists and other musicians playedhe music.

  • The first music video

    First videoKnown as "The Dickson Experimental Sound Film"
    Simply a test to see if sound and video could be synchronised.

  • The Bouncing Ball was created

    Now a popular feature on children's TV and karaoke, the bouncing ball follows lyrics in order that audiences can sing along.

  • The first 'talkie'

    The first full length 'talkie'-The Jazz Singer was produced and proved a hit with audiences worldwide. It was the beginning of fully recognised sound on film and the end of pianists in cinemas!

  • Jukeboxes with video

    3 minute clips called 'soundies' were shown on projections simillar to jukeboxes, they included music and dance.

  • The term 'music video' is coined

    Jiles Perry Richardson (The Big Bopper) used the term in an interview. He died the same year.

  • The Beatles made use of music video technology

    The Beatles were the first of many artists to use TV to promote themseves. Short promo clips would be broadcast.

  • 'Countdown' and 'Sounds'

    These were Australian TV programmes featuring mainly music videos. These shows proved very popular.

  • MTV

    Video Killed The Radio StarThe beginning of a new era for music videos. Now a very popular musc video TV station, MTV was launched! The first music video aired was a massive Buggles hit called Video Killed The Radio Star.

  • Movie making and music video's meet!

    ThrillerMichael Jackson's Thriller set the standard for narrative music video's by including 4 minutes of acting before the song even started! It won a well deserved MTV award as well as a grammy.

  • Lyric Videos

    Prince created a lyric video to 'Sign o' The Times'. This was the start of lyric videos.

  • Directors

    Now, directors of music videos were shown in credits, as the number of directors grew. This is the time where directors such as Hype Williams got their break.

  • Reality TV

    'The Real world' was pioneered on MTV and was the start of what would become a very popular genre comethe mid noughties'. MTV and sister channels largely abandoned their music output in favour of reality TV shows in the end.

  • Peer-to-peer sharing

    Napster, a service which allows the sharing of music and videoswas launched and ran between 1999-2001

  • The internet...

    In 2005, the internet was beginning to become fast enouch for video to be viewed. This is when sites like Youtube began!