History of Music videos- Miss Georgiou

Music videos in today's society can be viewed in a number of ways, on television channels, in shops such as barbers or cafes or on people's tablets through apps or websites. Due to continuous changes and advances in technology, music videos have not only been able to be better presented and visualised, but also they are much more available around the globe than ever before.

The breakthrough in viewing music videos was through the channel MTV, which was the main hub of viewing an artists video to a song heading into the modern generation, after the channel was released on the 1st August 1981. Artists were more eager to get their videos out there, knowing MTV had a worldwide audience of millions, which could lead to further awareness about themselves and promote their music to increase their popularity. Artists such as Michael Jackson and Diana Ross received increased popularity and success from the distribution of their music via MTV. However, music videos existed before the rise and emergence of MTV, creating music videos began around the early 60's, the "beatles, a worldwide popular English Band being one of the first to experiment. The whole concept around MTV was to have a "video-radio" channel and to make themselves the main hub of the latest popular tunes. The first ever video to be released on the channel was The Buggles- Video killed the radio star, in 1981. MTV were far less lenient on the videos released on their channel back in these days, as the first video ever to be banned on their channel came only a year later in 1982, with Queen's "Body language" being banned for mainly shortage of clothing and lots of skin and sweat. Their strictness on the content released throughout the years has greatly declined, compared to todays age where highly sexual, provocative and revealing videos such as Nicki Minaj's "anaconda", are allowed to air freely with pretty much no restrictions.

Youtube: Youtube, first launched online in February 2005 has provided a massive breakthrough in viewing music videos and also the views that these videos get. Youtube is an online website, where most, if not, all music artists post their content. Their fans can watch the music on their laptops or tablets wherever they go whenever they like. The music videos can be watched on-demand, which is efficient as fans do not have to tune in to their televisions and wait for videos to appear and then go after watching them, they also can watch them wherever they are, at school, work or on the train for example. Below we can see the top 30 viewed videos on youtube, racking up hundreds of millions, and even billions of views, showing just how globally popular the website is. What's also important, as that all 30 of these videos, are songs and music videos. Songs that are published on youtube can gain mass popularity and viewing, and therefore more hype around the artist. Artists who have benefitted greatly and have risen from youtube include Rae Shrummurd and PSY, a before unknown korean pop artist who ended up having the most viewed video on the website ever, even overtaking global sensation Justin Bieber, who's record stood for over 2 years, showing the just how powerful the impact of youtube can have on a music artist.

Budgets for music videos can vary, with the most expensive productions ending up costing millions of dollars. The most expensive music video ever made is of "scream" by Michael Jackson and his sister Janet, costing $7,000,000, a record which has stood since 1995. The average cost for a music video today (2010 average) showed it being in the range of $200,000-$500,000.

Technology used in music videos has changed significantly over the years and has been more prominant in production.


Technology is improving and advancing every day, and videos over the years have featured far more attractive visual effects, along with better sound quality and even the introduction of HD, which can be viewed on youtube. Videos such as Black eyed peas-boom boom pow and Katy Perry- Roar, can show how much technology has changed and how videos are higher quality and more features and effects can be added into them, making it more appealing to the audience. Technological advances have also meant viewers can watch these music videos wherever they travel on-demand, typically on their "tablets", especially iphones. The public are no longer restricted into tuning in to channels to see these videos, instead watching them whenever they wish and as many times as they like, allowing music videos themselves to become more and more popular among their viewers and audiences.


Iphones and smart phones in general have a huge impact on the consumption of music videos. Not only do smart phones allow these videos to be played in high quality and on-demand, they can be viewed in a number of ways through downloadable "apps", such as youtube, shazam and vevo. A connection to wifi outside or inside the house allows them to use the apps to view music videos whenever they please, with hardly any restrictions.



A music genre is a type of music, ranging from heavy metal, which may feature bass guitars and heavy drums all the way to hip-hop, which may feature cowbells and electronic keyboards. The genre may also depend on the lyrical content, with heavy metal tending to see more darker lyrics, whilst pop lyrics are a lot more family friendly and intended for a younger audience.



Overall, I have learnt the massive role of technology in helping the breakthrough of music videos and also how their popularity and worldwide availability has increased massively and also how in the current era, they can not only be seen, but talked about so frequently by so many people, e.g tweets and youtube comments. Youtube is very beneficial for m project, as other than costs of production, it gives me a free way to publish my video that can be seen by the whole world and is available to all, just by simply uploading it on the site, a feat which couldn't have been accomplished before the early 2000's. As a whole, I believe this research will benefit me in making my own music video and has taught me more about what my viewers may prefer and it has given me a deeper insight into how music videos have changed and how their popularity has increased.