MTV, The Rocket That Launched Music Videos

September 11th, 2005 • Filed Under

When the music video emerged as an item of real entertainment value, a group of entrepreneurs got together and created the cable television station, MTV. The sole content at that time, was music videos. Back then, music video clips were basically short video tapes of artists miming their own songs while the better quality recording was layered onto the tape at the same time.

For MTV, music videos were the mainstay of programming, playing one after another, varying their rotation according to where it was being broadcast, since in the beginning MTV was not a national channel, although it did soon branch out into independent channels in Europe.

The music video of the 1980s was basically created as a promotional item for the artists’ albums. Record companies would give away free music videos to a variety of stations, with MTV heading the list. Their idea was that in reaching a wider audience through visual presentation of the group and music, it would boost sales.

Ironically, the title of the first music video broadcast on MTV, was “Video Killed the Radio Star”, by a group known as the Buggles. But while MTV hadn’t quite killed radio at that point, it would start weaning listeners away, once the MTV music video programming became more organized and focused on presenting a variety of music and artists.
Historians note that the real surge in popularity for MTV, only occurred in 1983 when stations began broadcasting from Manhattan and Los Angeles. But the MTV music video fare palled with viewers until the re-organization of programming late in the 1980s. Now, MTV is more of a full spectrum music channel, offering bios, documentaries, cartoons, music entertainment news and more. It’s still considered one of “the” places to have a music video debuted and played, due to the audience loyalty it draws.

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