History of the Music Video

MAIN ASPECTS OF MUSIC VIDEO HISTORY

In 1965, The Beatles filmed ten black and white films which would later become promos for their upcoming albums. This kicks off a new wave of artists promoting their tracks through videos.

In 1974, music video clips were used as a method of promoting acts that were to appear on an Australian TV show called 'Countdown'. As the popularity of the video clips grew, the music industry began to realize the marketing potential of these music clips. 'Countdown' aired in 22 countries in the 1980's.

During this year, the New Zealand group 'Split Enz' became one of the first bands to create an entire set of music promo clips and market them on video cassette for each song on their album, 'True Colors.'

In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV was launched and it began the age of 24-hour music television. They launched the channel with the video, "Video Killed the Radio Star." Throughout the 1980s, MTV expanded to become an important tool used in music marketing. In 1983, Michael Jackson released the music video for 'Thriller' which became one of the worlds most successful and influential music videos in history.

MUSIC VIDEO HISTORY TIMELINE

1965 - The Beatles tape ten black and white films which later became promos for their album releases.

1974 - Countdown used music video clips to promote acts on the show.

1980 - Split Enz created an entire set of music promo clips.

1981 - June - Night Flight, one of the first US programs to play music videos.

1981 - MTV was launched which began the age of 24 hour music television.

1983 - Michael Jackson released 'Thriller', one of the most influential music videos in history.

1985-Mid 2000's - MTV launched many other additional programs such as VH1, MTV Europe, MTV2 and many more. In turn, their music videos were reaching out to a worldwide audience.

2002 - The introduction of formatting music videos onto DVD brings about a 33% growth for music videos worldwide.

2005 - Itunes opens it's store for audiences to purchase music videos.

2010 - Currently, the number of music videos viewed online stands at around 34 billion per month.

Throughout many years, music videos have developed massively through how different artists belonging to different genres have added their own twist. The introduction of programs such as MTV gave artists the ability to have their music consumed by audiences in a way which would market and advertise them worldwide.