A short history of the British music video

This article corrects the simplistic  'music videos started with MTV' narrative and gives a specifically British history.

Too often MTV is credited with the origins of the music video. In fact, the revolution began in Britain, more than half a century ago.

It’s more than half a century since the first promotional short films were made for singles by British artists such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in 1966. When the history of the music video has been analysed, it’s been largely in relation to North American genres and cycles. A long-standing assumption is that music video evolved in response to the launch of MTV in the USA in 1981. But British production predated MTV and was stimulated by changes in youth culture and popular music marketing that saw promotional films for individual single releases first being made in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s.

Full article: A short history of the British music video | BFI

by Professor Emily Caston