Music

History of Music Videos

  • Bessie Smith - St. Louis Blues

    One of the earliest examples of music videos which most relate to todays industry.
  • Fantasia - Walt Disney

    Fantasia - Walt Disney
    Walt Disney released an animated film called Fantasia which was based around classical pieces of music. The actions within the film responded in time with the music. The audience was shocked when Walt Disney released this film. This was one of the first famous videos to music.
  • Tony Bennet - Stranger in Paradise

    Tony was filmed walking along the Serpentine in Hyde Park in London for this recording. The video was then played and distributed by UK and US TV stations broadcasting it across the world.
  • Top of the Pops

    Top of the Pops
    The TV show called "Top of the Pops" was a popular show watched by the British public which promoted a single and their music videos, creating competition between artists and bands within the music industry as only a certain number of videos could be played on the channel which would therefore increase their sales.
  • Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

    Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
    Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody music video started a whole new era for music videos and is one of the most popular music videos of all time and they expand from the usual music video style and create something different. This influenced many artists to do the same and created music videos as a popular way to promote their music and the artist.
  • MTV

    MTV
    MTV was launched, this was the first TV channel created specifically for music videos to be aired on. The first video which was aired was Buggles "Video Killed the Radio Star." MTV created a whole new meaning for the music industry. This is where artists really began to try out new techniques in their videos by using effects, storylines and plot to the music videos.
  • Michael Jackson - Billie Jean & Thriller

    Michael Jackson was the first to take music videos to the next level and create something different, he was the first to create a short story out of the music within the video. He did this with both popular songs, "Billie Jean" and "Thriller." The "Billie Jean" video was the first idea of this nearly reaching the 5 minute mark on the video and then this was expanded further with "Thriller" which is a video over 13 minutes, creating a whole new meaning for music videos.
  • Madonna

    Madonna created a pop culture which influenced many artists after her and some of her techniques are still used in todays pop music videos. Madonna created popular songs and music videos to accompany them such as, "Like a Virgin," "Material Girl" and "Papa Don't Preach."
  • iTunes

    In 2005, 4 years after the initial release of iTunes music, video was supported on iTunes. Meaning customers could and can still buy and view music videos from their phones and laptops.
  • YouTube

    YouTube created a whole new platform for artists and labels to promote and release their music to gather a wider audience. YouTube also allowed smaller artists to post their content easily on the internet so even if they weren't signed by a large record company they still had a chance to gain a following and an audience, and this has become more popular and more accessible as YouTube has become an even larger video platform.
  • VEVO

    VEVO is a multinational video hosting service which allows people to watch many of artists music videos.
  • PSY - GANGNAM STYLE

    PSY best known for the song and video of "Gangnam Style" released his music video in 2012 and still holds the record for most watched music video on YouTube with (currently) 2,598,311,776 views. This shows how YouTube has easily connected people with music from all over the world.