History and Development of Music Videos

History

A music video is a taped performance of a recorded song, usually accompanied with dancing and a story line that will interpret the lyrics.

In 1894, sheet music publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired an electrician named George Thomas to promote sales of their song "The Little Lost Child".
Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song, the first step towards a music video

Between 1902 and 1917 was known as the 'phonoscène era'. This was the prelude of what would be the music video. It combined a sound recording with a camera shot of actors lip-synching to the song. The recording and film were synchronized by Léon Gaumont in 1902. The first phonoscènes were presented by Gaumont in 1902 in France.

In the 1950's the Scopitone (like a visual jukebox) was invented in France. This meant that short films could now be produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy to accompany their songs. The use of the scopitone then spread to other countries and similar types of technology came about, such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-Sonic in the USA.

The earliest music video of a Top 40 hit, was Jan & Dean's "Surf City", which was produced in the summer of 1963.

Music Videos today 

Music videos today are extremely popular, and even have their own channels including The Box, Viva and the most famous MTV.
MTV is an American network based in New York City. Launched on August 1^st 1981 MTV's original purpose was to be “Music Television” showing music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. MTV had a huge impact on the music industry and popular culture, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced and both artists and fans found a central location for music events, news and promotion.  MTV have faced criticisms for the moral influence they have on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism.

Technology & Developments

MTV aired their first music video of The Buggles' song 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. After this music videos became incresingly popular but at this stage when a video ended the screen would go to black while someone changed the video tape in the VCR. Over the years and as technology has become more advanced videos have become available on the internet as well as television and the 2 most used websites for this are Vimeo a small video sharing site and Youtube.

YouTube is a video sharing website which was created in 2005. The site allows users to upload, share and view videos. Music videos are uploaded to youtube everyday with many singers having their own personal accounts. Youtube allows more people to view the video as many times as they want and whenever they want. This has meant that the viewing of music video channels has declined rapidly.

Now in the music industry there is more affordable and faster equipment to create better quality videos. Cheaper laptops,  better software and filming equipment has allowed upcoming singers/song writers/film makers to create their music video to a higher standard. YouTube and similar social networking sites have allowed these people to share their music videos with the public including people high up within the music industry looking for creative and talented individuals.