A2 Coursework: Music Video Timeline.

Music videos/illustrations have always been popular throughout time, they were a way to showcase popular music talent and can be traced back all the way to the late 19th century.

This is the first example is illustrated song (1894) : 

Still images projected onto a screen simultaneous to a live performance of "Little Lost Child." 
This is the first form of an music "illustration" it did not actually have a physical person performing but instead drawings that where shown to an audience as the music played.

 

Talkies (1926)

As time went on technology was being developed in the 1926 "Talkies" were created. This new form of media allowed there to be sound when watching films as they moved from the 'silent film era' to a world in which sound could bee heard when watching a film, talkies were shown in cinemas and included many musical short films and performances from music artists.
Talkies

Musical Films (1930-1959)
As films started to become increasingly popular so did the musical genre in films. The musical genre is when singing in a part of a film. A popular example of this is the film "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" that started Marilyn Monroe. Musical films was a good way to showcase music artist.

Musical Films

The Arrival Of Promotional Clips (1940-1949)

These were short films of many famous jazz artists and their bands on a movie-set bandstand. For example Louis Armstrong ,Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Etta James and many other popular jazz singers.



The Rise of Television (1956-1960)
The rise of television also had a big part to play in the popularity of people watching music videos. In the late 1950's most people had a television in their homes and could watch and enjoy music videos from the privacy of their own homes. The rise of television made music artist very popular and successful as they became household names. This open a door for new musicians to strive for that success  in their careers as music was reaching a large audience of people from all over the world.


The Launch of MTV(1981)
This television channel that  broadcasts 24hours of music videos - This created a whole new platform for the music industry as many people now found it easier to access music, this increased the popularity of music videos and music artist. MTV became a great marketing tool for music artists. 
 

The Launch of Youtube and iTunes
2005 saw us enter into a more digital age as website such a Youtube were created enabling people everywhere to gain access to their favourite music artist and be able to watch all of their music videos. iTunes allowed people to buy music from their favourite artist with a click of a button. Youtube and iTunes also allowed for it's audience to become interactive with the music they listened to by allowing the audience  to comment on and rate their favourite music videos.