history of music videos
At 12:01am on August 1st 1981, MTV (the first 24 hour music video channel) played its first song on the channel, video killed the radio star, which was quite ironic as it represented the end of music just being played through the radio and instead started them being played on the TV, bringing to an end the period of time here the only way to listen to music was through a radio.
However his wasn't the first time that a music video had been made, only the first time it had been broadcast specifically to promote the band. For example, even back in 1940, Walt Disney released fantasia, an animated film based around classical pieces of music. This matches the definition of a music video, "a videotaped performance of a recorded popular song, usually accompanied by dancing and visual images interpreting the lyrics" (source- oxford dictionaries.)
Arguably, the first step step in inventing the music video we know today was the invention of the gramophone in the USA, in 1877, as this was the first time music didn't have to be listened to through live performances.
It was in 1894 that Joe Stern and Edward B Marks tried to promote sales of their new song "little lost child" with a help of George Thomas, who was an electrician. an early example of an image projector was used, known as a magic lantern. This used a lens, a bright light source and pictures on glass sheets, and the still images would be shown during a live performance.
many musical short films were produced in 1926, this was due to the arrival of "talkies" (synchronized sound to a motion picture) and in the 1930s talkies were popular worldwide, this helped to put Hollywood on the map in terms of the entertainment industry.
As the time went on, the purpose of music videos began to change, as producers began to realise the benefits of product placement. Gradually the music video was no longer for promoting the actual song, as due to the the introduction of Napster, which started the trend of free streaming, with sites like Spotify meaning consumers didn't have to pay to access music anymore.
However his wasn't the first time that a music video had been made, only the first time it had been broadcast specifically to promote the band. For example, even back in 1940, Walt Disney released fantasia, an animated film based around classical pieces of music. This matches the definition of a music video, "a videotaped performance of a recorded popular song, usually accompanied by dancing and visual images interpreting the lyrics" (source- oxford dictionaries.)
Arguably, the first step step in inventing the music video we know today was the invention of the gramophone in the USA, in 1877, as this was the first time music didn't have to be listened to through live performances.
It was in 1894 that Joe Stern and Edward B Marks tried to promote sales of their new song "little lost child" with a help of George Thomas, who was an electrician. an early example of an image projector was used, known as a magic lantern. This used a lens, a bright light source and pictures on glass sheets, and the still images would be shown during a live performance.
many musical short films were produced in 1926, this was due to the arrival of "talkies" (synchronized sound to a motion picture) and in the 1930s talkies were popular worldwide, this helped to put Hollywood on the map in terms of the entertainment industry.
As the time went on, the purpose of music videos began to change, as producers began to realise the benefits of product placement. Gradually the music video was no longer for promoting the actual song, as due to the the introduction of Napster, which started the trend of free streaming, with sites like Spotify meaning consumers didn't have to pay to access music anymore.
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