History of the Music Video

The idea of a music video was not thought of entirely until the 1960s, however these were not the same as what we see today
Bob Dylan 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' (60's) This music video isn't what we'd see in modern days. The more conventional side of it is the location as it is down a lane or near a market.
TV Music Programs
'Ready Steady Go' was one of the first music TV programs on the screen, however this was soon taken over by 'Top of the Pops' in 1964. The idea of a TV music program meant that bands could broadcast themselves to an audience. Top of the Pops was chart based (usually the top 40 in that week) and the bands that played normally mimed however some bands braved it and sang live. Although most bands were always available, sometimes the band scheduled to go on Top of the Pops were on tour, this began the usage of short films. The idea of a short film was that if the band due to come on was absent, performances would fill the space. This were seen as 'appalling'. This band was one of the first bands to play on Top of the Pops.

Short films
The Beatles 'Strawberry Fields Forever' As we can see in this music video/promo, a more narrative side came into play, however, the performance of the band is minimal or none at all. The quality of a music video in this time period was still poor, however within the space of a decade, we can see a clear difference. The conventional parts we can see in this music video are; going in reverse, cross fading technique. Also there is a much wider variation in shots, the shots are cut into the rhythm of the song. Widely known band, (such as The Beatles) made lots of money, however little money was spent on their music promos.

The Monkees - I'm a Believer (pop rock) The Monkees were the first constructed band known. They were what they say the 'US answer to The Beatles'. This is because, the Americans had noticed that The Beatles in the UK were making money and fast! Not only that, but they also noticed that the they were getting a wide attention from the public.  They established a wide variety of conventions, these included; surrealism, jump cuts, wacky comedy and action/performance.

Monkee Business?
In the 1980s, Mike Nesmith (former member of the Monkees) transformed the 'pop clips' to the MTV network. The main idea of MTV was so that an entire network could be filled just with music promos! This was deemed to be available 24 hours a day however there was one cost if a band wanted to be played on MTV and this was royalties to the artist/band.
New Bohemians
Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'  was considered by some to be first music pop promo around (80s). When asked to play on music programmes etc, they said that they were available free of charge, meaning they'll just play for the fun. In the music video, they were the first band to sing along to the lyrics of the song and also they included live performances of their shows in the music video.

MTV
MTV was first established in 1981, and grew rapidly thoughtout the US. Artists soon realised that there was potentional in playing their music on networks and quickly started requesting their appearances. As back in the times of when MTV started, there was a divide between racial equalities, most of the music seen on networks was mainly white acts/male rock, MTV completely ignored 'black' rap. The reason for them ignoring black rap was because they saw their content 'threatening' for example singing about drugs, swear words, etc. However, there was a major break through a couple of years into MTVs exsistance when Aerosmith combined a sing with a black group called 'Run DMC' making one of the most well known songs 'walk this way'. This song provided a cross over and broke the significant white dominance.
The Oscars!
In 1984, MTV firmly established themselves as a key music channel in the industry, they own oscars for the musics videos presented by them. However, they noticed that they needed to become more lifestyle orientated and cover a much wider range of music/popular culture. So, they successfully managed to do an unplugged series where all bands on their had to play acoustic. A band that did this well was Nivarna, the least thought of band to play acoustic.

1980s: How much?
In the 1980s budgets for music videos soared above more than what people thought it ever would! For example Duran Duran, with their music video 'wild boys' cost $1 million (which was seen a lot in those days) however, in the making of this video a member almost drowned due to the turn wheel getting stuck under water whilst he was tied to it
Duran Duran, Rio
Michael Jackson Thriller - 10 minutes long, story sequence, made by a film director

The present
Availability of music videos now is on a much larger scale, including YouTube, iTunes and mobile phones! There is also a much wider range of genre based music channels, including ones such as Scuzz, MTV, E4 Music.