Timeline

1902-1917: The phonoscene era - a forerunner of sound film. Combined a chronohone sound recordingwith a film shot of actors lip-synching . It was presetnted by the Gaumont, in France.

1926-1959: Many musical short films were produced, featuring bands, vocalists and dancers. They were typically six minutes in length, with animations and backgrounds combined with the artist singing. They also provided a sing-along concept.

Musical films were another precursor to music videos, and well-known music videos imitated the style of classical musicals, such as Madonna's 'material girl' was closely staged to 'diamonds is a girls best friend' from the musical Gentleman Prefer Blondes.



1960-1967: The Scopotine ( a visual juke box) invented by the French, was where short films were produced to accompany music videos.

1967-1973: Promotional videos were rising in success, such as Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. The videos were aiming to simulate performance or present a narrative.

1974-1980: Top of the Pops was introduced in the United Kingdom. The Artists would hope that it would increase the sales of their single

1981-1991: MTV launched the first music video on television 'video killed the radio star', and commencing a 24-hour tv programme which only showed music videos.

1992-2004: MTV started listing directors with artist and song credits, who brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. In 1995, one of the most expensive music videos was released : Janet and Michael Jackson's 'Scream'.



2005-present: Launch of YouTube, where you could gain access to music videos for free