Music Video History

After some thinking I have decided that I will almost certainly be producing a music video, while retaining short film elements if that remains possible. 
So, to give me an insight into the music video market, I have done some research into the background of music promo videos and why they exist.

Definition: "A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes."


History of the Promo

Music videos date back much later than many people may expect. Ever since 'talkies' arrived in 1926 there have been musical short films and in the 1940's "promotional clips" of one-song films were made for the 'Panoram visual jukebox', dubbed "soundies". 

In the late 60's/every 70's, as television grew, many "filmed inserts" were used by UK artists on TV if the artists couldn't play live. Pink Floyd, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues and The Doors were early artists who produced music videos.

In 1973, David Bowie featured in a series of promotional films, and they were hugely important in the development of the music video genre as they were made by a professional photographer, as opposed to a film or TV director, who had creative control.

Top of the Pops began to play music videos in the late 1970's, and bands found that a good music video increased the singles sales, as viewers wanted to watch the video again next week.

Then, in 1981, MTV was launched, showing music videos 24 hours a day. Only a few years later music videos became the centre of popular music marketing. Artists such as Duran Duran and Madonna grew in their success due to their appealing videos. The development of technology also played a part in the rise of modern music videos, as video cameras became much cheaper and easier to use. 

Then in 1983 came the most successful and famous music video to ever be produced, Thriller by Michael Jackson, which was almost 14 minutes long and cost half a million dollars to make, setting a new standard for artists across the world.

Moving onto the nineties and the use of directors names in the credits of the videos made it clear that music videos were becoming much more serious. In 1995 one of the most expensive videos of all time was made, Scream by Michael and Janet Jackson, costing $7 million. 

Then with the rise of the internet in the mid 2000's, music videos became more accessible to everyone, especially in 2005 with the launch of YouTube and social networking sites such as Facebook where audiences could share videos quickly and easily. However after YouTube merged with Google, problems arose over copyright, complicated by the fact that not all record labels shared the same policies towards music videos. 

 Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" video became the most-viewed video on YouTube in 2010 with 130 million views, which was beaten in 2011 by Justin Bieber's "Baby" with over 500 million views.