HUGO STARNS
A2 Media Portfolio
History of Music Videos
1894- 'The Little Lost Child'
1958- First Official 'Promo'"Dáme si do bytu
1929 - Bessie Smith- ST Louis Blues
1975 - Queen release 'Bohemian Rhapsody' accompanied with video
1926-59- Talkies, Soundies, Shorts
1960-73- Mainstream Birth of Promos
2005- Internet Friendly- Birth of Youtube
1956- Tony Bennet 'First Music Video'
1981- Birth of MTV, Officially on air
Music Video - 'a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song'. They were primarily used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.
In 1894, publishers Edward B Stern and Joe Stern hired an electrician named George Thomas to promote their new song, still images were projected during live performances. This became known as 'illustrated song'.
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In 1929, Bessie Smith released a dramatized version of the hit song 'St Louis Blues'.
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Over the next 30 years, many variations on the track to an eventual 'video' were created. Soundies were songs that included short dance sequences. Musical films also occured being big in the 40's and 50's. Early music clips were common in the early 50's.
In 1956, Tony Bennett was filmed walking along the serpentine in Hyde Park, London, as his recording of 'Stranger in Paradise' played. This film was distributed to and played by UK and US stations - this was his claim to the first video.
In the 60's, promos became a lot more prominent. Huge artists and bands like the Beatles featured in mockumentarys like 'A hard days night' 1964, and then 'Help!' one year later.
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In 1981, MTV (music television) officially began with 'Video Killed the Radiostar'. This still continues today and has helped many artist achieve success.
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In 2005, Youtube and other sites began and became popular. With easy accessibility and free viewing, this platform became popular very quickly. Bands like OK Go became very successful through Youtube.
In the present day, music videos are still going strong, MTV and youtube are bigger than ever and with other sites like itunes and spotify being available there are many platforms videos can be released and seen on.