Music Videos have only come about in the 20th century but were most prominent
during the 1980’s until the present day. Everyone today knows of a song which they know the music video to that song. Music videos are a multi-million pound industry today but if you look back 50 years or so the music video was a totally new thing and was used only to promote artists. People tried to put moving images and still images to music to create a Narrative this was before the 1920's and the earliest form of this was dated back to 1894. Between the period of 1894- 1950 most people would have to see the artist perform live and only small short videos of performances were ever made. During the 1950's the film industry was full with musical films so films started to use performance alongside the music. The 1960's saw the rise of the Music video, This was when bands tried to use the music video to try and promote themselves.
The Beatles were the first band to exploit the music video and were involved in many music videos ever since. In 1964 the Beatles made a documentary style film called "A Hard Day's Night and this saw the band performing but in a music video format. It is all set in black and white and tries to show how successful the Beatles was back when they was in their adolescence. This clip below shows how Music videos was back in the early 1960's.
This is a 1966 video by Bob Dylan. The video is very primitive and See's Bob Dylan with numerous cards which were in synch with the music video. The video isn't in a studio but a dirty suburb of what looks like an industrial part of a city.. Bob Dylan appears in the video showing his importance as a performer, The video is different because it does not have the artist singing in it, But he is performing which adds to the realism.
During the 1960's the BBC introduced the Top of the pops were bands and singers could perform to an audience, often it would be lip synced but this meant that artists could get there songs out to the audience and this lead to people wanting to see more from artists meaning that people would like to see them perform in a music video so it became very popular to do so. But It was not till the 1980's until people started to really know they had to make music videos to become a success. Music videos were aimed at making money and to make the band or singer popular in the music industry and also today Music videos can send out a message about the society or the views and opinions of the artist, These can be integrated in the song. In the 1970's people were experimenting more with music videos just as the Beatles did so with their "HARD DAYS NIGHT".
This video is below is a common music video from the early 1970's and this music video sees the band The Mixtures play In the summertime. It is still shot in black and white because most people did not have access to coloured Television sets.
During the 1980's people knew how to exploit the form of music videos and knew of all the codes and conventions that we now use today in our music videos, this helped producers and artists to make well made music videos. Madonna had all ready become popular and was well known for her music videos. The 80's was full of new fashions and women were becoming more accepted into the male orientated world. Madonna had made this video Lucky Star. Artists at this time showed more performance and sang along to the song. Mostly all music videos in the 1980's music videos were in colour now, Unless they wanted the vintage look.
This music video is of R.E.M Loosing my Religion a video and it was released in 1991and caused controversy though the world because a song was talking about religion but the music video had meaning and when people watched the music video they understood the song better. The Video has a sense of Narcism and self love. The lyrics can be interpreted in many ways and people can interprate the songs in many ways. It is a music video with a lot of self expression. You would not of been able to have been able to have made a song or music video like this in the 1950's because the society would of not accepted it because it would of gone against most peoples religion but by the 1990's personal expression and free will was more common so more people had a choice in which religion they wanted to follow or even not follow any at all. This showing that society had changed.
The 2000's saw a massive increase in music video production and most artists made music videos alongside their song. Many artists had become well known because of their music videos. Making a music video is like a blank canvas and just like they did back in the 1960's they had to come up with new ideas and though the History of Music videos we can now see what works and what does not work. Artists can express themselves though their music videos and create an illusion and grip audiences. In the 1960's Music videos were a new thing but now in the 2010's a new video release is treat like a blockbuster release. Lady Gaga is one of the latest famous artists with millions of hits on the Video networking Site "You tube"
The Internet has become a new form of showing music videos on and advertising Music videos. Since the early 2000's music videos have been uploaded and shared though networking sites such as "Facbook, My Space and the dominant is You Tube" These are all free and allow artists and record companies to advertise and show music videos and make the music video a success and make people want to download and buy the track. Itunes gained from this form of advertising as they can work in partnership with the record companies and the music videos and let people buy the song and download the video.
