History of the music video - miss georgiou

There have been various popular videos on YouTube, however the most watched and most successful is 'Gangnam Style' by the South Korean artist 'PSY'. Reasons this may have been most watched is due to the video itself being comical so therefore reaching a wide target audience, plus the fact that it was marketed throughout social media, becoming a global trend.

History of the Music video

The ways in which music videos are consumed vary dramatically and have changed vastly over recent years with influences from both new technology and social attitudes towards music. The variation of platforms consist of music television channels, YouTube, iTunes and various other websites. This has changed from the use of music channels such as MTV to the ability to watch the music videos from the comfort of home; all influenced by large developments in technology.

MTV

This was the first ever music channel and was launched in 1981 on the 1st of August, it showed various music videos and was the first platform in which these music videos were shown. At the time of its release MTV was focused solely upon music videos and particularly 'rock n roll' with specific artists such as 'the police'. It began as a television programme aiming to promote artists through showing various music videos on repeat via control from Vjs (video jockeys). However this has evolved mainly due to the various genre popularity differing over time. MTV became very popular very quickly and soon they began to create programmes on their channels, firstly focused around music and eventually developing into a range of programmes shown on various channels aimed towards a target audience of teenagers and younger adults. In recent years MTV has managed to globalise and now has hundreds of channels ranging around the world.
MTV itself has had a very large influence upon the music video. It distinctly promoted artists use of the music video, allowing them to build an image of themselves and develop a picture around their music and personalities. Being the first ever music channel, MTV was one of the first ways in which music videos were shown to mainstream audiences on an international stage. This meant that it vastly changed the ways in which artists were able to promote them selves and create marketable images of themselves in contrast to previous years in which music videos were not as easily accessed by audiences. This gives clear evidence of the remarkable effect that MTV had upon the music industry, it gave artists the opportunity to relate and connect to their audiences, allowing them to develop large fan bases and selective target audiences; allowing them to truly discover themselves within the industry.


YouTube 

This is a much more modern platform for music videos and most likely to be the most used. This is mostly due to the fact that it is regularly updated with the most recent videos, it is totally free and can be accessed on most internet based devices from around the world. It was created in 2005 with music videos being a key feature to the site. It was seen as a vital marketing platform as artists added various songs to the site before or simultaneously to their release allow fans across the world to view their videos for free therefore increasing their popularity allowing them to sell more records; this is the most important use for the website.
Much like the introduction of MTV, Youtube had a very large effect upon the developments of music videos and the nature of the music industry itself. Although music videos were already very popular through the use of music channels such as MTV, youtube was able to take the use of the videos to another level. It did this by making the videos very easy to access around the world on the internet. This had huge benefits for the industry as it almost became the main way the which fans listened to artists. It again made it even easier for artists to build an image of themselves within the market as they could produce a variety of videos for their songs that would become accessible worldwide, potentially making them international sensations. Music videos soon developed to become the key way in which artists released their music due to their increase in popularity developed through the introduction of music.

Budgets



Budgets for music videos can vary a lot with factors such as artist, genre and target audience having great influences upon how much is spent. The more expensive videos can reach budgets of millions of dollars. This is seen within the chart above of which shows the top ten budgets for music videos of all time. This gives a clear indication that larger, more recognised artists need bigger budgets to appeal to there wide spread, main stream target audience. This is shown through the various big name artists within the chart such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and Mariah Carey with Michael Jackson's and Janet Jackson's 'Scream' having the largest budget of $7,000,000. It also gives evidence that the larger budget music videos were seen to be produced of earlier dates with the majority of the list being dated in the 20th century. This may been influenced by advances in technology, evolved genres and changes in audiences. On average, since 2010, production for a music video now ranges from $200,000 to $500,000.
The change in budgets over periods of time has also had an effect on the music industry and the production of music videos. This is due to the reduction of budgets and the extravagancy of music videos. It now costs a lot less to produce a high quality music video. This has great benefits to the artist. Firstly, they are able to produce multiple videos, again developing a image for themselves, plus relating to their target audiences and building upon their fan base. Also, the artist is able to have bigger profit margins, meaning that the industry has become far more profitable due to increased technology. Audiences also benefit as videos are now high quality and artists can create very extravagant videos due to the lower costs and improved technology

Target Audience

The target audience for music videos tend to be teenagers of both genders. This has been the same throughout the years of the use of music videos. The teenage generation of the modern era in which music videos have been used have been brought up listening to music through videos on music channels such as MTV and more recently on YouTube. Contrasting to this, the older generation have been brought up listening to music mostly through radio; this means that teenagers ranging from ages 15-25 are the main target audience for artists when creating a music video.

This also has an effect on the actual production of videos and the ways in which they are created to suit the mainstream target audiences. Due to the consistent target audiences of younger adults and teenagers throughout the history of music videos, music videos have always been created in order to appeal to that particular age group. This means that the target audience has a large effect upon the history of music videos as artists have always aimed to relate to younger age groups.

Developments in Viewings / Genres 

Top videos:

1980s - Thriller, Michael Jackson (pop)

1990s - 'smells like teen spirit', Nivana (rock)

2000s - bad romance, Lady Gaga (pop)

Throughout the era of music videos popular genres have differed, mostly ranging from pop and dance to rock music. This is influenced by the teenage culture throughout the years of the music videos. Popular genres within music videos of recent times now consist of mostly dance music. This is mainly due to the influence of technology within music and through developments in clubs and the party lifestyle. Additionally, technology has had a great influence on viewings for music videos, specifically the Internet and the development of smart phones and internet based devices. This plus the creation of YouTube has lead to a very easy access of music videos from any where around the world. This has also been influenced by the advances in social media such as Facebook or Twitter which are used as a platform to promote artists and their songs and videos. Evidence in the development in viewing is shown by recent statistics showing millions of views on recent YouTube videos such as gangnam style which amounted to over 2 billion views. 

Conclusion 

Many of these moments and influences that have had great effect upon the history of the music video may also have influences upon the creation of my video. YouTube will allow my specific product to be played around the world. This will make my video easily accessible for y selective target audience. Also, with increases within technology in recent years, the budget for my video will allow me to actually create a high quality video with the use of editing programmes and software. Additionally to this the history of music videos and the successes seen within this history may also help persuade me towards the genre or target audience that I might select. The main aspect I will take from this research is seen within the target audiences for music videos over the years that they have been used. It is clear that this audience consists of younger adults and teenagers so it is likely that I will aim to make my video relatable towards these age groups.