Timeline of Music Videos

Musicians have been featured in 'videos' since the start of cinema, however it was not until the 1950s when music videos were created. In the 20s many musical short films were produced, these were very similar to what we now call music videos.

In the 1930s to the '50s many musical films were created. A famous example of one of these films is 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' which starred Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russel.

The mid '70s was the beginning of music television. This was the time the long running, popular British TV show ' Top of the Pops' began to air music videos.

In the 1980s music videos became mainstream, beginning with the launch of the U.S. video channel MTV. This was the start of 24-hour music on television. In this period the directors of music videos began to add a plot to music videos. In this time Michael Jackson's song 'Thriller' was created, which was, and still is, a very iconic music video.

Present day the internet is the most popular way of watching music videos. Social networking is a key reason for the popularity of watching music videos over the internet. YouTube is a very popular way of watching music videos, because of its ease of use and speed. Some music artists now can become famous entirely through the internet, by having their music videos on social media. An example of this is the band OK Go, that achieved fame through its video 'A Million Ways', which became famous through the internet.