What's the History Behind Music Videos
Premiering in 1974, the Australian TV show 'Countdown' played a huge role in the growth and development of the music video industry. Music video clips were utilised like a method of promoting acts which were to look on the show. As the interest in the video clips grew, the background music industry started to realize the marketing potential of these music clips. One of the most notable video clips features was the AC/DC hit, "It's A Long Way up." Throughout the 1980s, 'Countdown' aired in 22 countries.
In 1980, the brand new Zealand group Split Enz became among the first bands to create a whole set of music promo clips and market them on video cassette for every song on their album, 'True Colors.'
Predating MTV by almost three years, 'Video Concert Hall,' was the very first nationwide video music program on American television. Premiering in June 1981, one of the first US programs to experience music videos was the USA Cable Network program 'Night Flight.' Night Flight predated MTV's launch by just a couple of months.
Almost 30 years ago, the U.S. video channel MTV was launched also it began the age of 24-hour music television. They launched the channel with the video, "Video Killed radio stations Star." Through the 1980s, MTV expanded to become an important tool used in music marketing. Singers like Madonna not only used music videos to advertise their albums, but to produce their images. In 1983, the almost 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller," was launched. It became the world's most successful and influential video in music video history.
In 1985, MTV launched the channel VH1 which featured softer music for an older audience than the typical young MTV audience. In 1987, MTV Europe premiered as well as in 1991, MTV Asia was introduced.
In 1988, the MTV show, Yo! MTV Raps was launched. The show helped to create rap music to some nation wide audience. Two of the videos that are most famous to be a couple of the 3 most expensive music videos of all time are Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream," which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story," which cost $5 million. "Scream" remains the most expensively video ever made.
During the 1990s, MTV launched channels around the world that included: MTV Latin America in 1993, MTV India in 1996, and MTV Mandarin in 1997. In 1996, MTV2, originally called "M2" was launched as an alternative and older music video channel.
By the mid-2000s, MTV and several of their other channels had stopped showing a large number of music videos and began showing reality tv shows.
Music Videos have played a huge role in the success of numerous artists and the music business.