music videos

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium, and later with the launch of VH1. The term "music video" first came into popular usage in the early 1980s. Prior to that time, these works were described by various terms including "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional (promo) clip" or "film clip". In Chinese entertainment, music videos were simply known as MTVs because the network was responsible for bringing music videos to popularity in that country. Music videos are now known as MVs in Chinese entertainment.

Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song's lyrics, making it less literal than expected.

music video, videotaped performance of a recorded popular song, usually accompanied by dance or a fragmentary story and sometimes employing concert footage. Typically three to five minutes long, music videos frequently include quick cuts, stylizations, fanciful and often erotic imagery, and computer graphics. Originally vehicles for promoting singles, most music videos are in the rock idiom. Although many examples of the genre feature the macho rock stars and scantily clad dancers that have become cultural clichés, certain music videos are notable for their cutting-edge techniques and artistic innovations, and some of their directors have achieved auteur status.

The music video form was popularized by the MTV cable network (est. 1981) and began to have wide popularity and influence in the early 1980s. By the 1990s many hundreds of videos, representing a cross-section of musical forms-from traditional to experimental rock, heavy metal to hip hop-were being produced yearly. Although music videos have usually been aimed at a teenage audience, many videos of ballads or "soft rock" songs are now directed at an older group of viewers. Since shortly after their inception, the style and content of music videos have strongly influenced advertising, television, film, and popular culture as a whole.

When the first country music videos were made is disputed. Sam Lovullo, the producer of the television series Hee Haw, said his show presented "what were, in reality, the first musical videos," while JMI Records made the same claim with Don Williams' 1973 song, "The Shelter of Your Eyes.[34] In addition, a film of "Galveston", a crossover hit for country-pop performer Glen Campbell in 1969, has appeared on the video sharing service YouTube.

Country music historian Bob Millard wrote that JMI had pioneered the country music video concept by "producing a 3-minute film" to go along with Williams' song. Lovullo said his videos were conceptualized by having the show's staff go to nearby rural areas and film animals and farmers, before editing the footage to fit the storyline of a particular song. "The video material was a very workable production item for the show," he wrote. "It provided picture stories for songs. However, some of our guests felt the videos took attention away from their live performances, which they hoped would promote record sales. If they had a hit song, they didn't want to play it under comic barnyard footage." The concept's mixed reaction eventually spelled an end to the "video" concept on Hee Haw.

Promotional videos of country music songs, however, continued to be produced. On March 5, 1983, Country Music Television, or CMT, was launched, created and founded by Glenn D. Daniels and uplinked from the Video World Productions facility in Hendersonville, Tennessee. CMT's chief competitor, The Nashville Network (TNN), premiered two days later. CMT was positioned to play country music videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while TNN was geared toward programming lending itself to a "country lifestyle".