History of music

Music history

A music video is a short film that has

a complete piece of music which is normally a

song.

Modern music videos are primarily a

marketing device which are used to promote the

sale of music recordings.

Music videos has changed a lot since they

started. here are some examples.

1960's

Though the cassette tape cartridge is invented for transcription purposes in 1930, the cassette is slow to enter the recorded music industry as a viable format. The cassette tape takes a major step toward becoming mainstream in 1944, when Signal Corps Captain John Mullin sends two working tape recorders recovered from Radio Frankfurt in Germany to the U.S. German inventors also had developed tapes with 20 minutes of recording time.

Adopting and building on the German technology, American inventors introduce the first portable audiotape recorders in 1951. In 1958, RCA offers cassette tapes for $1 more than the vinyl album. But it isn't until 1964 that the cassette has its commercial breakthrough, when Philips introduces its own 30-minute format for the tape cartridge and allows other manufacturers to duplicate the specifications. This standardization of cassette tapes creates a market for an inexpensive and portable solution to reel-to-reel tape. With the price of a blank tape around $3 and a vinyl album at $6 by the end of the 1960s, the record companies start to worry about the recordable cassette affecting their sales.

This is th type of development in technology linked to the way bands and singers developed.   

 

The video above is of the Rolling Stones song 'paint it, black' released in 1966. The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics and Keith Richards wrote the music. The single reached number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom charts in 1966. In 2004 it was ranked number 176 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In the US and UK, it was the first number one single to feature a sitar. It is a simple video containing many close up of the main singer and some of the band as well as some mid and long shots of the audience dancing to the band.


The video above is of the 1969 The Jackson 5's song 'i want you back'. It went to number one on the soul singles chart for four weeks and held the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the week ending January 31, 1970. "I Want You Back" was ranked 121st on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The video again is very simple as it mainly shows the band. Even though it is simple it is very effective as you focus on the band and the music more than anything else. 

1970's

In this time things like the Atari Video Music was released in 1976 and was an analog video synthesizer that could generate a kaleidoscopic light show on your TV screen when hooked up to your stereo. Also the U.S. Congress declares sound recordings worthy of copyright protection in passing the 1971 Sound Recording Amendment to the 1909 Copyright Statute. Though this amendment is proposed largely in response to the record industry's complaints of vinyl bootlegging, the implications of the amendment are applied to the burgeoning recordable cassette market. Record executives complain that teenagers tape and swap their favorite albums, and advocate a tax on blank cassettes to make up for the lost revenue from tape trading. With music sales still growing, the objections to taping are largely unheard.
By the late 1970s, music sales slide, and the record companies begin an industry-wide campaign to curb home taping. But cassettes hit the big time with the decline of 8-track players and the introduction of the Sony Walkman in 1979. The Walkman revolution coincides with improvement in cassette sound quality and the cassette tape suddenly became the only format that you could have in your home, in your car, and in your pocket. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the record industry's lobbying and trade organization, continues its fight for taxes on blank tapes into the 1980s and legislators eventually grant the music labels a portion of every blank tape sale.
This development also affected what the bands and singers of this time had to do to become succefull.


The video above is the 1977 Sex Pistols song 'God save the queen'. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977. The record's lyrics, as well as the cover, were controversial at the time, and both the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority refused to play the song. The song reached number one on the NME charts in the United Kingdom, but only made it to number two on the official UK Singles Chart as used by the BBC. This led to accusations by some that the charts had been "fixed" to prevent the song from reaching number one. The video has shots of the band but also of other things as well like shots of the police and people walking around with burning letters on poles like a sort of protest. You can clearly see how the music video has changed from the simple 1960's videos to the ones like this one. 


The video above is of the 1975 ABBA song 'Mamma Mia'. Recorded by the Swedish pop group ABBA, written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson, with the lead vocals shared by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. It is the opening track on the group's third album, the self titled ABBA. The song's name is derived from Italian, where it is an interjection used in situations of surprise or anguish (literally, "My mother"). The song is about a woman who is time and time again disappointed by her unfaithful partner, but forgives him anyway. The video is still simple but has more shots making it different from other music videos. 

1980's

 
Philips and Sony announce plans to work together to come up with a uniform standard for a Compact Disc (CD) in 1978. In 1982, record companies announce a worldwide standard that ensures that all CDs will play on all CD players. Billy Joel's 52nd Street, released in 1982 in Japan, becomes the first CD released in the world. By 1988, the CD surpasses the LP in sales.
With the introduction of the CD, the '80s become the most explosive boom period in recorded audio history, as consumers replace their vinyl collections. Within three years of the CD's arrival in the marketplace, the electronics industry sells one million CD players. By contrast, it took 11 years for color television manufacturers to sell one million units.

The video above is of the 1984 Wham song 'Wake me up before you go go'. It was their first UK number one hit. It was written and produced by George Michael, one half of the duo. This song also appeared in soundtrack for the movie Zoolander. The video is mainly of the band which are shown with lots of different types of shots making it more interesting. It also includes other people within the video so it makes it not just about the band but the effect it and this particular song has on others. 


The video above is of the 1984 Madonna song 'Like a virgin'.  It was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and produced by Nile Rodgers; Steinberg said that the song was inspired by his personal experiences of romance. The lyrics of the song are ambiguous and consist of hidden innuendo. In sexual terms, the lyrics can be interpreted in different ways for different people. "Like a Virgin" received positive reviews from contemporary as well as old critics, who frequently called it as one of the defining songs for Madonna. It became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching the top of the charts in Australia, Canada and Japan and the top-ten of the other countries. The video tells a story using different locations, people etc. It is very different from earlier music videos as it doesn't just show the song but the story behind it.

1990's

The combination of digital audio and the Internet create a combustible phenomenon upon the invention of the Moving Picture Experts Group-1, Layer-3 (MP3) in 1990. The MP3 compresses digital audio files by a factor of 12 to a size that can be easily sent from computer to computer without compromising quality.



The video above is of the 1992 Take That song 'A million love songs'.  It was written by lead vocalist Gary Barlow. It was released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1992 and peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. Again the video is very simple but this time you can tell it is more modernized. The black and white theme and the live saxophone and piano give it a sort of atmosphere.     


The video above is of the 1997 Spice girls song 'Spice up your life'.  It was written by the group members, with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard, at the same time as the group was filming scenes for their movie Spice World. The song was produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's second album Spiceworld, released in November 1997. "Spice Up Your Life" is a dance-pop song with influences of Latin rhythms such as salsa and samba. The lyrics are inspired by Bollywood films and reflects the group desire to "write a song for the world". The music video, directed by Marcus Nispel, features the Spice Girls in a futuristic setting, inspired by the 1982 film Blade Runner, controlling every aspect of society in a dark futuristic cityscape. The group promoted the song heavily, performing it on many television programmes and award shows. Released as the album's lead single in October 1997, it topped theUK Singles Chart on 19 October 1997 for one week, becoming the group's fifth consecutive chart-topper. This made the Spice Girls the first act to have its first five singles reach number one in the United Kingdom. It performed almost as well internationally, peaking inside the top five on the majority of the charts that it entered. In the United States, the song did not perform as well as their previous releases, peaking at number eighteen on the Billboard Hot 100, and barely cracking the magazine's component charts.The video is has a futuristic theme. The video shows a type of story and includes them and others in a future like theme.  

2000's

In 2003, Apple Computer launches the most successful online music store to date. In its first year, Apple sells 70 million songs at $0.99 per song, creating nearly $70 million in legal Internet music sales. Questions remain as to how the new market for legal downloading will affect the sales of physical CDs and whether it will redefine the basic unit of music consumption.


The video above is of the 2005 Fall Out Boy song 'Sugar, we're going down'. With the music composed by lead vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump and all lyrics penned by bassist Pete Wentz, the single reached No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Fall Out Boy's first top 10 hit and exploding the band into the mainstream, exposing them to a new audience. It spent five weeks in the top 10 and 20 weeks in the top 20 out of its 42 chart weeks before it was retired. The video is like the band is telling a boys story of how is is treated different by everyone as he is different, but how a girl likes him in the end. The video consists of a small cast of people as well as the band. The band are shown with mainly close ups, mid shots and some tracking as they play their instruments where as when the shots of the story line are shown they are more like ones you would see in films.    


The video above is of the 2012 Lawson song 'Standing in the dark'. Third single by British pop rock band Lawson, from their debut studio album, Chapman Square. The song was released in the United Kingdom on 14 October 2012, via Polydor Records. The song first premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 1 September. The video features band member Andy performing the track in his flat, while the rest of the band perform in a deserted car park, in the pouring rain. It is a typical love song about a guy losing a girl. It uses typical shots like close ups and mid shots so you can see the location and the band as they sing and play the song. 


As you can see above from the 1960's to the 2000's the typical music video have changed majorly as they have become more modern as time has gone on. This is so the music appeals to the audience making them want to buy the song.