-
Illustrated songs.
Pioneered in 1894 as a publicity stunt for marketing, illustrated songs consisted of painted images in colour, projected from glass slides. This particularly caught the eye of movie-goers. -
One of the “first” music videos is filmed.
The “first” music video is filmed at Thomas Edison’s studio.
This "music video" was made for the Kinetophone, a device developed by Thomas Edison that showed motion pictures. The device also had a Phonograph which played popular opera music which matched the visuals.
Intended primarily as a test, the “Dickson Experimental Sound Film,” as the clip is known, was not released, in part because the Kinetophone never caught on with consumers. -
Alexander Nevsky
The Soviet Russian propaganda film was the first time a soundtrack was matched with visuals and was specifically commissioned. The soundtrack made it easier to establish who was who in the video and the good and the bad guys within the video. -
The 50's
With the likes of Elvis Presley, the 50's saw the birth and rise of Rock and Roll music.
While there were no significant releases at all in terms of music videos, the relationship people had with their music became much stronger - a much more audience-connected rock performance was becoming more and more popular, an element that is iconic of modern rock music videos. -
Top of the Pops
Music videos began to be essential with the introduction of Top of the Pops as without a popular music video, the band would not be seen as prestige enough to be featured on Top of the Pops. Thus, music videos began to form the basis of how popular/successful a band was. -
A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles
A short mockumentary/comedy film to promote the band and their releases. -
The 60's
The 1960’s placed emphasis on freedom, and happiness. It was described as a musical revolution. As technology began to improve, films of artists performing were made. -
Bohemian Rhapsody - First 'Music Video'
When the song was released in the UK the band were on tour abroad and couldn't make it to Top Of The Pops when it was number one. That was when and why they recorded the video to be played in their absence. Although it looks crap today, at the time it was revolutionary and people couldn't get enough of it.At 9 minutes, the length of the song was considered too long for radio stations - which significantly hindered its success. -
Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles
Link text The first music video to air on MTV, produced in 1980. -
MTV
History was made on this day when MTV was launched for the first time on television sets and change lives with the birth of the music video. MTV was the first 24-hour music video channel. The first video ever played on the network was the ironically named “Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles. -
Thriller - Michael Jackson
Link text
A pioneer in narrative music videos, with a four minute horror-story featured even before any music begins to play. The video lasts for thirteen minutes in total, and consistently refers to the narrative. It was around this point that artists and record labels began to recognise the significance and importance of musk videos as a promotional, profit-inducing concept, which could engage the artist and the audience. -
VH1 Launched
A second music video channel released onto television sets. -
-
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
Link text Peter Gabriel sat behind a glass screen for 16 hours, whilst Nick Park of Aardman Studios, the creator of Wallace and Gromit, directed the music video. This was something no other artist had attempted - to make an animated music video, this broke music video boundaries; showing other artists how creative and unique they can be. -
Madonna - Like a Prayer
This video had a strong political message, and allowed music videos to become a platform to share strong messages for artists. Music videos from this moment became a platform for many artists to express their beliefs to their audience. -
iTunes Released
When iTunes was released it allowed for people to download music videos and songs for a low price. -
YouTube
The birth of the video sharing platform YouTube became particularly significant to the marketing and release of music to artists, record labels and audiences.
