History of a music video- Mrs Georgiou

History of a music video

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies an artists song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device to promote the sales of music recordings and created a bigger profile for the artist. Music videos are witnessed by viewers and audiences on artists websites or the record labels companies websites, on music video television channels such as MTV and the most popular channel of all, YouTube; Since the introduction of Youtube, music videos are a vital part in music and are in high demand from audiences. 

Music Television, better known as MTV, was launched back in August 1981and it is an american cable based television channel that previews and shows artists music videos and programmes promoting artists and their short media work. It was the first ever music channel to be broadcasted to homes across the world and was significant in the launch of music videos and responsible for the vast popularity of some of the biggest and best music videos in the world today, that all show performance, narratives and a theme; Some even naming it the home of music. Its original purpose was by video jockeys to promote bands and their music videos and since then it has vastly expanded over the years to include music based and music video based award shows, reality shows and top music video countdowns to increase the popularity and reputation of pop culture and music videos. Early on, MTV concentrated on rock music and tended to play classical artists videos such as The Police, Journey and The Beatles. When MTV began to grow and become more popular, they broke the racial barrier and played Michael Jacksons video for 'Billie Jean'. This paved the way for the development of music videos and in particular black artists. Music television channels such as MTV are also used as a way for artists to promote their music and sell themselves how they like as an artist by giving an insight to their characters and music through these videos. Music television channels also host a variety of different programmes for their audiences such as Worldwide top 40, R&B classics, 90's pop hits, etc so fans can enjoy a wide range of music videos. Many people noticed this trend and so the music video as we know it today was born and MTV had become so popular, by 2015, MTV had their channel in 93,240,000 american households which just shows how far music videos have come. There have now been countless other programmes trying to implement what MTV had done but they still remain one of the most dominant ones on this genre of television. 

YouTube is arguably the most popular way of accessing a music video and the platform that gets the most viewers and higher audiences, with over 1 billion people a day tuning onto YouTube to watch and listen to their favourite artists. Not only is YouTube the most popular online tool for music discovery, because of its easy to use and free servers, but amongst the younger demographic particularly, it is the preferred platform to listen to music on. This is because of the high involvement with social media websites such as twitter and Facebook that promote music videos that are shown on YouTube and artists giving links to their own music videos through YouTube. Not only that but YouTube has many social aspects towards its functionality of music videos such as comments pages, easy sharing and embedding, video quality, other recommended music videos and much more, so fans can have a more immediate and active role in sharing music with others and enjoying music videos on a wider scale. YouTube is also used by artists as a way of promoting their own music and is a big money maker in the music video industry. As a result of this, YouTube has paid out over $1billion to music rights holder, artists and industry's, putting the California technology company amongst the top sources of digital revenue for the embattled music industry outside of download sales

Budgets for music videos have increased significantly over the years due to the drastic change in the production value, props and artist value and technology/special effects value of the video. Music video production budgets typically cover the cost of concept development, storyboards, pre-production, on camera talent, casting, chorography, location fees, rehearsals, production equipment, " crew, editing and depending on the scale of the video, technology and special effects costs. The total cost of producing a music video can range from $20,000 to $500,000, whereas if you rewind to over 30 years ago, the first music videos cost about $1000 to make. Now a days, there are a handful of music videos that reach the seven figure range, but those are exceptions in the overall market. If your budget is a low range one then special effects tend to be more developed and used frequently, whereas a lot of technology is used in high end music videos with large budgets. Technology has also transformed the music industry and its videos with large development. One of the most popular and expensive music videos to date which is still regarded as one of the greatest music videos of all time is Michael Jacksons 'Scream' which is a video all about the future and space time travel. It is also considered as an obscure and strange video by critics therefore the audiences interpretation of the video is vital in its success and popularity. Another well known video when it comes to budgets and music video history is MTVs debut music video shown on their channel 'Video killed the radio star' by the buggles which only had a budget of $60,000 in contrast to the substantial amount of money Michael Jackson had to work with, $7,000,000, for the 'Scream' video. Because of The Buggles being less well known then MJ and having a lower budget, they were under less pressure to create a successful and historic music video and it went on to outlast its expectations in that aspect, however with that being said it was the first music video to appear on MTV and with the name 'Video killed the radio star' discouraging music videos, people were under some expectation as to whether it will be successful and set the boundary for videos in the future. The budgets for both videos becomes evident today as you can tell apart the special effects of both videos, the standard of VKTRS looked quite primitive in its effects however it was a well created video during it's time and peak, whereas the video for Scream is impressive for its visuals being flexible and energetic in order to give the audience a sense of illusion for the video. This would make the audience remember scream as a influential video and one they first think off when on topic due to it being abstract. VKTRS also shares this sense as it was groundbreaking at the time and set the benchmark for what artists and record labels could do in their music videos in order to make them more technologically advanced and successful. Scream however is a clear demonstration of how special effects and technology has developed over the years with moving sets, stylistic camera shots and well as edits to make it have a futuristic sense. Viewings on these videos were both very high on YouTube and have constantly gone up since their release dates in 1979 and and 1995. VKRTS has a youtube viewing rate of 9,000,000, a high figure considering the date, however Mj's Scream reached a total of 42,000,000 views making it clear it cost more money, was more successful and the effect youtube has had on there music industry and its popularity to date.
The technology and special effects for VKTRS at the time were groundbreaking in terms of music videos and really upped the boundaries of what artists were allowed to do with their videos, also for this video, lots of technology was created for the purpose of getting the songs message across like the tv's scattered throughout the video. Scream on the other hand is a clear demonstration of how special effects and technology had gotten better over the years as said earlier the fact that they had moving sets to make it look as if they were on walls walking around it also had stylistic camera shots as well as other edits on the big tv screens, both music videos try and portray the future in a sense and both had pushed the boundaries set previously, like the music videos becoming so enormously popular or becoming extremely expensive. Viewings of these music videos have increased as time went on for youtube as VKTRS has nearly 9,000,000 views which is impressive as it is quite old and less know today, but compared to screams 42,000,000, it's easy to see why there have been dramatic changes in the music video genre in terms of views on youtube, this could be partly to the artists' reputation as the boggles aren't well known today, but Michael Jackson is still as popular as he was a few years back and was regarded the king of pop for a while as he had some massive hits in his time. The most viewed music video on YouTube of all time is PSY's gingham style which has over 2 billion views, topping the views charts over Justin Biebers Baby by over a billion views. Although PSY is not as big or popular an artist as Justin Bieber, his video received a lot more views on YouTube due its unique style and narrative that has never been seen before in the music industry. The video for gingham style is a very subversive video and follows a number of different genre conventions that adds to its vast popularity and success on YouTube. Some of the elements that make the video conventional and successful are its wacky, unusual narrative of PSY's performance and the concept of him being ladies man and a successful god amongst men that he portrays himself as being in the video. Overall, the music video is the most popular on Youtube of all time because it received a lot of promotion and praise through word from mouth advertising its ability to go viral and top mainstream artists, which music fans loved as respected as it had never been done before. 



In conclusion, these music videos i have analysed for MTV and Youtube have enabled me to understand the platforms for music videos and how they set the bar high for current day music videos and the popularity they can reach. It has also allowed me on what i need to focus on in order to create a successful music video of my own and an insight as to what makes a music video so popular and how to get it trending amongst audiences. It also gives me a thorough understanding as to what codes and conventions I can include in my own music video and what is required of certain genres. For example, a indie music video would use particular micro elements such as advanced editing and camera techniques to add dramatic effect and emphasis on the shots and videos. These micro elements also give a true representation on the artist and their characters.