A Brief History ofMusic Videos

Early Beginnings

• In 1974, on Australian TV, “Countdown” premiered, which promoted acts on the show while playing video clips.

• Over the 1980s, Countdown was broadcasted in 22 different countries.

• In 1980, Split Enz, a band from New Zealand, pioneered using video clips to go along with each song on their album “True Colors”.

Pre MTV Era

• Video Concert Hall was the first program showing music videos on American TV, in 1978.

• In 1981, Night Flight premiered on American Cable TV.

MTV

• The channel was launched in 1981, with the first music video being “Video Killed the Radio Star” by Buggles.

• Artists began using music videos more frequently, as now an outlet was easily available. Singers such as Michael Jackson used music videos to not just sell more albums, but create a unique image, or brand.

MTV pt.2

• Subsequent MTV channels were released, with some for a worldwide audience, such as MTV Europe, and MTV Asia.

• Other MTV channels focused on different markets, such as VH1, MTV Base, MTV Hits,

Recent Times

• With MTV focusing more on Reality TV and less on music videos, other channels worldwide have been spawned, each attempting to find their own demographic.

• Music videos are also still a popular way of promoting a single, though usually it is uploaded on the internet.