The history of music videos.

Soundies.

Soundies were introduced in the 1940’s and were the first introduction into having sound in music videos, one of the first was Nat King Cole’s video.

Soundies were a way in which people could watch videos with sound added to them, what we class as essential and take for granted in today’s society. They were the highlight of music until the late 1950’s as this brought scopitons (see next slide).

Scopitones.

Scopitons were like a duke box, they came around 5-10 years after them however they showed the videos of the song as well as the sound, there was a variety and range of choice and were first invented and previewed in 1950/60’s. From there they became a well associated item that you would watch videos during social gatherings etc.

A hard days night.

This was a film produced by the Beatles which featured all songs on their album it was released in 1960. other artist such as Beyoncé have took inspiration from the Beatles even in todays society (2014).

A hard days night had an effect on music as it premiered music within a film as each song was played in the movie of the beetles. This showed that songs can not only be viewed as a video but can be seen as a film, later artist took inspiration from this as union j’s song was featured in the 2012 film ‘kick ass 2’.

Queen bohemian rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera. The song consists of several sections: a ballad segment ending with a guitar solo, an operatic passage, and a hard rock section. At the time, it was the most expensive single ever made and it remains one of the most elaborate recordings in popular music history.[1]

When it was released as a single, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became a commercial success, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and selling more than a million copies by the end of January 1976.[2] It reached number one again in 1991 for five weeks following Mercury's death, eventually becoming the UK's third best-selling single of all time.[3] It topped the charts in several other markets as well, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and The Netherlands, later becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time. In the United States the song originally peaked at number nine in 1976. It returned to the chart at number two in 1992 following its appearance in the film Wayne's World which revived its American popularity.

Although critical reaction was initially mixed, "Bohemian Rhapsody" remains one of Queen's most popular songs. The single was accompanied by a promotional video, which many scholars consider ground-breaking.[4] In 2004, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[5] In 2012, the song topped the list on an ITV nationwide poll in the UK to find "The Nation's Favourite Number One" over 60 years of music.[6]

MTV.

MTV (Music television) first started in 1980’s and the first song ever aired was ‘video killed the radio star’.

From there they have parachuted into the worlds biggest music channel and still remain as the biggest today.

It was a vital start to music videos as it put them out there making a lot of artists and bands more famous.

Thirty years ago today, the television network MTV launched, marking the dawn of what many consider the music video’s heyday. But it may come as a surprise that the genre itself has a much longer timeline that stretches as far back as the late 19th century. Find out more about key moments in music video history that paved the way for MTV’s debut on August 1, 1981, when the pioneering channel fittingly and famously aired The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

YouTube.

YouTube was first founded in 2005, it increased consumption and popularity of the videos. It gave music videos another avenue to pursue and sent them viral.

Videos are accessible on YouTube today anywhere, on your phone, tablet, TV and pc for example, which is why they have increased majorly in popularity as they are available almost everywhere, they feature all new releases and over 10,000,000 music videos.