With the introduction of 'talkies' (talking pictures) in 1926, it gave an opportunity for artists to make short films. One of the earliest examples is the two-reel short film, St. Louis Blues, starring Blues singer Bessie Smith. Prior to the development of technology, such as television, this short film was only shown in theaters, therefore making it much harder for the audience to consume the material, compared to the 21st century. This meant that the film only reached a small audience.
Soundies were three minute black and white films often involving short dance squences and designed to be shown on coin-operated 16mm rear projection machines situated in bars, diners, nightclubs, roadhouses and other public places throughout the States and Canada. Dance sequences have become a convention in many music videos in the 21st century.
With "I Want to Hold Your Hand" reaching No.1 in the US charts, The Beatles' made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show on February 9. Their performance on the show was considered to mark the beginning of the British Invasion in music. With the help of the power of the radio, sales of millions of Beatles singles and albums were made and the entire country became aware of their upcoming performance on TV. There were around 73 million viewers tuned in to watch the show, at the time a record for US television. The Beatles performed on the show for the last time, in August 1965 (broadcast in September).
In The Beatles 'A Hard Day's Night' film, the use of techniques such as quick cutting, hand-held cameras, music under documentary action, influenced the way in which music videos were made. The film premiered at the Pavilion Theatre in London on 6 July 1964 and critics noted that the film was a subtle satire on Beatlemania and the Beatles themselves.
In 1965 The Beatles had reached worldwide fame, making it impossible for them to physically appear on every tv show that wanted them. To overcome this situation, they produced a series of promotional films which they could send to the television companies throughout the world. Promo films were made for the singles 'We Can Work it Out', 'Help!', 'Ticket to Ride' and 'I Feel Fine', all emerging into one form of their film 'Help'. This essentially made The Beatles the inventors of using the music video as a promotional tool.
Orbita is a Soviet-Russian system which broadcasts and delivers TV signals via satellites. Through the release of this, more opportunities arose for music channels to emerge, allowing a wider distribution of music videos and resulting in artists to become known worldwide.
Released as a six-song double EP in the United Kingdom and an 11-song album in the US and elsewhere, Magical Mystery Tour was the soundtrack to the television film of the same name. Broadcast by the BBC on 26 December 1967. It was made specifically for TV film and was the closest thing to a feature length music video. However, the film was heavily criticised, because of some of the content, and banned, bringing an end to The Beatles' TV work.
Bohemian Rhapsody was the first real music video recorded on video tape. By this time, there were more channels to watch music videos on, therefore allowing a larger audience to view it. On first release, the song was not well known until the first showing of the video on Top Of The Pops in November 1975, putting it to No.1 in the charts for nine weeks. While Queen were not the first band to make a music video for promotion on TV, the video created an iconic look for the band and sparked a new era.
Introduced in 1981, MTV was a designated channel just for music videos. This allowed exposure through visual means rather than sound. While music videos already existed, as promotional tools for albums, MTV evolved them into art forms, selling the artist as well as the music. They create ideology throughout society by providing information such as fashion, lifestyles and social behaviour. Music video producers used MTV as a way of reaching their target audience (usually between the ages of twelve and thirty) because of the power of music TV and the distribution of their product.
Regularly quoted as the most influential music video of all time, Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', lasting 15 minutes, incorporated horror film techniques and styles as well as making it a music video. This was deemed to be the pioneer of the narrative video which included a story and plot. The music video had an impact on black American artists' careers as they were allowed more airtime on TV, creating further genres of music into the music industry.
Yet another iconic era of the music industry, Madonna created a memorable and influencial music video which involved the well known dance routine to Vogue. This altered the way people behaved in public at clubs as they copied the dance. The iconic image of Marilyn Monroe's appearance was mimicked by Madonna which helped display the ideology of image and posing to look good. This essentially created image consciousnesses in society.
The launch of YouTube. in 2005, affected the ways in which music videos where marketed. It saw the exponential growth of music video production as it is much easier to upload a video to the internet than send it off to a TV company. The distribution of music videos was then affected as they could be seen viral, all over the world, reaching a wider audience. The use of advertisements on YouTube videos also affected the distribution (although this wasn't introduced until recent years) of music videos and other company products as the video and song could be bought on ITunes- effectively advertising other Apple products like the IPod. However, while YouTube is a crucial part of the music industry, it has led to a much easier way for the audience to illegally consume songs by downloading them without paying- good for the consumers but financially bad for the artists and major companies.
Product placement is an advertising technique used by companies to subtly promote their products. This has been used in many music videos, in the 21st century, across a wide range of genres. It is more common to see promotional techniques in mainstream music videos such as 'We Can't Stop' by Miley Cyrus and 'It's My Party' by Jessie J, in which the Beats Pill product of Apple is featured. This has generated economic benefits for large companies in the music industry.
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