MUSIC CHANNELS

Origins
Music channels have had a role in music for hundreds of years. As early as 1895 music channels were present, with the worlds first music video being filmed in Thomas Edisons studio, and then being projected onto a wall. The development of music channels and thus music video continued long into the 1900s, with the climax of development taking place in the late 1970s, with the announcement of MTV, which would soon become a household name in music. On the 1st of August 1981, the first major music channel, MTV launched to the public, to critical acclaim.

MTV

On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., MTV launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken by John Lack, and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia, which took place earlier that year, and of the launch of Apollo 11. At the moment of its launch, only a few thousand people on a single cable system in northern New Jersey could see it. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star. Sporadically, the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR.

MTV

On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., MTV launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken by John Lack, and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia, which took place earlier that year, and of the launch of Apollo 11. At the moment of its launch, only a few thousand people on a single cable system in northern New Jersey could see it. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star. Sporadically, the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR.

MTV Now

MTV itself now focuses its efforts into its reality TV scheme. Almost all of the content produced on the MTV channel is based on this scheme, and thus very little time is spent on music videos. However, several other channels, such as MTV Bass have been set up in order to stream 24/7 music videos. This has been combined with a range of other separate companies music channels in order to give the consumer a vast choice when choosing a channel

Further Developments

In the modern era, a vast range of music videos are available at our leisure These include; Viva, Kerrang and Smash Hits! This vast wealth of music videos allow for significance viewing of music videos, and are in many cases a primary source of music promotion.