History of the Music Video

The definition of what a music video is : A music video is short film integrating a song and imagery,produced for promotional or artistic purposes.
Modern music videos are mainly made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.

History of the Music Video

The earliest  piece referring to a music video was a 'sound film', which started out in the 1920's which were motion pictures with synchronized songs playing at certain images this was an advancement from the silent film, they were being produced which featured bands in them etc.

In 1929 one of the earliest examples of a music video was created it was, 'St Louis Blues' by Bessie Smith it was included in a short film called, 'Saint Louis Blues' which showed a performance of the popular hit at the time. 

In addition just after this in the 1930's, 'screen songs' were introduced they were animated cartoons which encouraged the audience to sing along to the lyrics at the bottom by following the 'bouncing ball'. At the same time as this the, 'musical film' was being released which is a film genre whereby songs were sung by the characters which related to the narrative yet, such as: 42nd Street, The Wizard of Oz and Singin' in the Rain.
Moreover in the early 1950's Tony Bennett, (American singer of traditional pop, show tunes, and jazz) claimed to have made the first ever music video in Hyde Park when he was filmed walking along the Serpentine in 1956. Also in 1957 the second music video from the American musical film, 'Jailhouse Rock' starring Elvis Presley was another.

 Furthermore in 1964,The Beatles started a new age for the modern music video with the motion picture, 'A Hard Days Night'. In 1981 the TV channel, 'MTV' aired it was and still is a 24 hour broadcaster which meant that music videos were being played around the clock and became a massive role in marketing music. In the 1990's directors of music videos began to rise because of new sound and with this a new form of music videos which more artistic and experimental, directors such as Spike Jonze, Jake Scot and Mary Lambert were credited.The most expensive music video ever made was, Michael Jackson's 'Scream', which cost £7 million to produce in 1995.

In 2005 the two most influential technological creations in the music industry were founded, iTunes firstly allowed people to downloaded music from the internet and YouTube, which has allowed people to watch videos online and has increased the popularity of watching music videos on the internet.

I looked into what the music industry believes what could be in hold in the future for music videos and when researching into this I found an article that was called, ' MTV and the Future of Music Media'. It sad in the article that,'MTV will likely be making music videos that reflect exactly what they've become: A conglomerate-era corporate brand with big pockets,advertising power and star-making potential'. Also another quote i thought was interesting about the future of the music video was, ' they will combine song,celebrity,spectacle, and cross promotion in efforts to produce "super videos" '.