AS/A2 Daisy Alasya-Wade: Timeline of Music Video History

First Example of Illustrated Song: Little Lost Child
-1894 - still images are projected onto a screen simultaneous to a live performance of 'Little Lost Child.' The Little Lost Child was a popular song by Edward B Marks and Joseph W Stern which sold more than two million copies of it's sheet music following it's promotion as the first ever illustrated song, an early precursor to the music video.

Talkies
-1926 - Many musical short films were produced featuring many bands, dancers and vocalists. 'Spooney Melodies' in 1930 was the first true musical video series. Shorts were usually six minutes long and featured Art Deco- style backgrounds and animations combined with a film of the performer singing.

Screen Songs

-1926-1959 - Animation artists introduced a series of sing along short cartoons called Screen Songs, which caused audiences to sing along to popular songs. The sing along concept is still used today, especially with younger audiences such as High School Musical. Early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on camera in live action segments during the cartoons.

Musical Films
-1930-1959 - Musical films were a noter important precursor to music video, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s to the 1950s. One of the best known examples is 'Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend' from the film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.' Musical films were a film genre in which several songs were interwoven into the film.

Promotional Clips
1940-1949 - Another form of music video were one song films called 'promotional clips.' These were short films of musical selections, usually just a band on a movie set bandstand, made for playing. These were made mostly of jazz musicians such as Frank Sinatra, but also of torch singers, comedians and dancers.

Television
1956-1960 - The television was created and by the late 1950s most people owned one. The rise of popular music was ted with the rise of televisions as the format exposed new stars such as The Beatles. This was a good opportunity for them as they could perform on national television where people from all around the world could watch them.

MTV launched
1981 - MTV showed their first music video which was 'Video Killed The Radio Star' by The Buggles. They created a 24 hour broadcast meaning music videos began to play a central role in music marketing by the mid 1980s.

Scream
1995 - Michael and Janet Jackson's music video for their hit 'Scream' was released costing seven million to produce, being the most expensive music video ever.