History of the Music Video

A music video is a short film or video, created in order to accompany a piece of music or a song. Music videos often use a wide range of techniques, ranging from animation, to live action, documentaries and upon occasion even abstract film. It isn't uncommon for a music video to blend styles either, for example a performance narrative video will include both live action footage as well as narrative footage. Modern music videos are primarily produced as a marketing device in order to boost the sale of the artist and musical recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further than this.

The music video first began to advance in the 1980's at the hands of MTV, the phenomenon that allocated power and importance to music videos. MTV first began broadcasting in 1981 in the USA, marking the beginning of the music videos ruling over the musical industry -as a

result of MTV broadcasting music 24 hours a day on television, music videos were in constant demand, consequently playing a vital role in the artist's career. If you had a music video then your popularity would increase as the chances were it would be played on MTV and seen by the vast audience. The first music video to ever be played on MTV was 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles, a fitting premier perhaps.

The sudden demand in music videos gave birth to a new breed of directors- video directors. In 1992, Mtv began to list directors, along with the artist and song credits. This reflected the increasing idea that music videos had become an auteurs medium. Directors such as Spike

Jonze, Hype Williams and Mark Romanek recieved their big break around this time, each bringing a unique vision to the videos they directed. A select few of these directors, including Jonze, went on to direct feature films. Romanek directed two videos that took the world by storm and are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time. The first of which being Michael and Janet Jackson's Scream, costing $7 million to produce and the second, Madonna's Bedtime Story which totaled to $5 million. Scream remains no.1 most expensive video to this day.

New technologies such as Youtube have made music videos more accessible to all audiences as no longer do you have have to own satellite television for example, to view new music videos

keep updated with reference to the music scene. By providing artists with youtube channels, the music industry has made a strategic move in reaching wider audiences, therefore rocketing the number of records sold by artist, the popularity of artists and the work of the director. Another way in which new technologies have impacted the music video and music industry are the increase in and availability of video technology and software. Products such as Apple Macs and video camera's, even video camera phones have opened the doors to amateur music video production. No longer are music videos only available to successful artists or mainstream entertainers, as unsigned or local musicians can now create their own.

Youtube and music channels, such as AKA, allow these amateur artists to broadcast their videos.

marks a dramatic change in the music video, although a video is still a vital attribute to an artists work and in gaining popularity/fans, it is no longer out of our reach.