Brief History of Music Videos, and their Importance to the Industry and the Artist

Music Videos

Brief History of the Music Video

Music videos have been around for as long as cameras have been around, so quite a long time, but only in the last 20-30 years have they been an important part of the music industry - to the fans buying and watching the songs, to the artists performing them.

Music videos first featured in the 1920's, when many short musical films were made. Music videos shot to popularity during the 1950s, when Marilyn Monroe featured in Musical films, performing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend. This lead to Madonna's "Diamonds...' inspired video "Material Girl'', which is heralded as one of the best videos ever. Many music videos have been inspired by Hollywood musical films of the Marilyn Monroe era, such as Michael Jackson's zombie dance themed "Thriller", which is considered the most iconic music video of all time. Music videos have developed dramatically from the early days, now with much bigger budgets and a far bigger audience to aim at, but arguably the best videos ever made are the oldest ones.

Importance to the Industry

Music Videos provide the visual platform and relationship between the artist and the fans. Because music is audial, there needs to be some kind of visual relationship, and this is what the "Music Video" does. Music videos allow the industry to maximise the revenue from a particular single, therefore making more money for the music industry and the artist (although it does cost money to produce a music video). The bigger the star, the bigger the fan base, therefore more people watching the video, meaning more revenue for the industry. As mentioned earlier, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was the most watched video of that time period, as many tuned in to watch  it on MTV in the 1980s. MTV has been an important part of our culture in the way that we view music videos. MTV launched on 1st August, 1980, with the purpose to play music videos of your favourite artists on television. The channel's target audience are young adults, adolescents and teenagers. As of 2013, MTV can be received by 85.1% of households with television in the USA. The channel also has its own awards show, titled MTV Music Video Awards, or the VMAs.

Seen here is the version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" that was seen by millions on MTV in the 80s.

Seen here is the edited, short version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

Importance to the Artist

Gangnam Style is the most watched music video on YouTube

Music videos are as important to the artist as they are to the industry. With a music video, the artist is allowed to express their lyrics in any way they feel appropriate, and with the right music video, an unknown artist can attract a more mainstream audience, therefore making more money. Also, music videos are now available to purchase, making for more and more money. Without music videos though, artists would have to rely on the sound of their actual music, obvious I know, but a perfect example of this would be the music video of South Korean pop star, PSY. 'Gangnam style's lyrics were in South Korean, so normally the international audience wouldn't be interested. But, PSY released his music video to 'Gangnam Style', and it instantly became an International hit, because of the uplifting, funny music video, which featured the very popular "Gangnam Style" dance. This music video shot PSY into an International celebrity, as his music video is the most watched on YouTube ever, with well over 1,500,000,000 views. 

Seen here is the most watched video in YouTube history, launching PSY into international stardom