History of music promos

1960s

The Beatles- 'A Hard Day's Night' 1964 

The Beatles had a massive influence on music and promo video throughout there whole career and in 1964 they help to create some typical conventions of a music promo through the trailer of the first feature length film 'A Hard Day's Night'. In this trailer the audience see the band in different seniors with each other- creating a type of narrative. Not only this we also see the band performing together, singing the songs that will feature in the film. Both of these things are something that is done in almost every music promo video, as it makes the artist look more real and down to earth, which appeals to the audience and makes music promos a lot more enjoyable to watch.

1970s

AC/DC-'Its a long way to the top (if you want to rock n roll)' 1976

This music promo video was one of the first videos to be created purposely for TV showing. AC/DC was one of the first bands that created music promo videos to suit a TV audience, meaning that more people would see and hear their music. Also this music promo was one of the first videos that uses footage of the band playing live, wit there performance being the main narrative. It a very simple idea, but it works really well as the audience get understand how the band works (hopeful in a positive way) which means that more people are likely to become fans of their music.


1980s

Michael Jackson- 'Thriller' 1983

'Thriller' is arguable the best music promo video ever created.  This was the first music promo video that was consider more as a short film than just a music video. It was the first of it kind to really spend a lot time and money on a music video with $800,000 spend on it. Previously not much effort was put into music promo videos, as it didn't seem worth while. It was the first shown on MTV and made African American artists better known on the music channel. This video push boundaries with the narrative- a horror themed music video had never been done before. The result of the this video was that artist went on to put as much effort and even more money into their music promo video to match the success of 'Thriller'.


1990s

Madonna- 'Justify My Love' 1990

In the 90s many of Madonna music video was banned by MTV, 'Justify My Love' was banned for its sadomasochism, homosexuality, cross-dressing and group sex. At the time it was extremely controversial but that worked in Madonna's favour as more people were talking about the music video which helped to make Madonna even more famous. It was one the first music video that started the theme of sexualisation, as it can really help to promo the artist and the profit gained through single sales.

2000s

Weezer - 'Pork And Beans' 2007

As a result of YouTube music videos have become extremely important when propping a song/album. So, music videos now try to create something unique and interesting to watch so that people are more likely to re-watch the videos again and again to help boost profit.  Also it means that the artist is more likely to be talked about which helps gains popularity. Weezers 'Pork and Beans' did this by including at least 20 YouTube celebrities, This made more people watch the videos to see their favourite YouTube celebrity and resulted in the song being the Weezers most successful.