A Timeline of Music Videos

In 1929, the earliest example of a music video can be found.  Blue's singer, Bessie Smith, was featured in a two-reel shot film called 'Saint Louis Blue's'. This was shown in theatres until 1932 as it was a big hit with the public.

In 1940, Disney released Fantasia, an animated film based around famous pieces of classical music.

Early animations from Walt Disney and Oskar Fischinger were all built around music and the musical works of the others. The common  day subsidiary of Disney, known currently as Loony Toons, was initially created around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brother musical films. These were then distrusted to theatres and allowed the audience the chance to see parts of up and coming films.

In 1956, Tony Bennett was filmed in Hyde Park, London, recording parts of his music video for the song 'Stranger in Paradise'. This was then played in the UK and the US in television stations. This later became known as the first music video to have been created.

In 1960, the Scopitone was invented in Paris and this allowed many French artists to create short films. Some artists include Serge Gainbourg, Francoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc. The Scopitone was a key aspect into the increase in music videos because it allowed people watch them without the need of going to a theatre.

These then spread to the US and Italy and later become patented in the US under the name of the 'Colour-Sonic'

Top of the pops was created in January  1964 and saw huge popularity within the UK during the 1970's as people could now watch music video's on the

In the middle of 1964, The Beatles' first major motion picture entitled 'A Hard Day's Night'. The hugely popular America TV series called 'The Monkees' was based on this film by The Beatles and these featured a number of film segments to accompany various songs from the TV series.

Top of the pops was created in 1964 and saw huge popularity within the UK during the 1970's.  People could now watch music videos on their TV's in the comfort of their own home without having to go to the cinema to see them.

In January 1981, the music video industry started to boom. MTV (Music Television) was launched into the USA. It quickly grew to popularity as people could now have an endless stream of music in their house whilst watching the music videos.

In 1982 Michael Jackson was the first artist to create a music video with a budget of over $1 million. This changed the music industry as it created a trend that many other artists would follow - using directors.

In 2005 video sharing changed forever with the creation of YouTube. The new founded media sharing platform allowed for music artists to share their music videos for free whilst also reaching a wider audience.

OK Go! Were the first artists to upload a music video to YouTube. It saw huge popularity and reached over 4 million views in its first year online.