-One of the earliest videos for a top 40 hit was produced in the Summer of 1963 by Jan & Dean. "Surf City" captured the experience of a Summer in Southern California in a beach scene. Another notably early clip was 'The Animals' in 1964 where they lip-synced the words to "House of the Rising Sun" in a studio set.
- 'The Beatles' made a huge impact in the development of music videos from 1964 onwards. They made their first feature of "A Hard Day's Night" which was originally pictured in Black and White. It was the first example of mixing together both witty dialogue with performance in a musical sequence. 'The Monkees' in America followed suit with the Beatles and constructed film segments with their music. The Beatles then went on to compile a much more superior video in colour for the single 'Help'. Along with this they filmed promotional videos ("filmed inserts") for broadcasting in other countries to enhance their global popularity.
- Bands such as 'The Rolling Stones' and 'Pink Floyd' became influential in acting upon this idea of promotional videos to be screened on TV when they were not around to perform live. 'The Who' created a clip in 1966 for "Happy Jack" where the band take the form of a gang of thieves. This notion of comedy alongside of the music was appearing very popular and was well received. The 60s saw a massive movement in the frequency of inserts and the amount of bands realizing the potential of them being used. This was also a period in which colour television was highly developed and much more common therefore many music promos were now shot for colour tele - making them much more aesthetically pleasing. 
- From 1974 onwards, music television began to establish itself in society. In the UK, 'Top of the Pops' began to play music videos. If the video of was well received by the public then song sales would increase so they could see it again the following week. A prime example of this is David Bowie's hit "Ashes to Ashes" got his first number one in a decade as a result of his promotional tape. British Rock show "The Old Grey Whistle Test" screened a number of videos which were made in particular for the programme itself e.g.) 'Led Zepplin' and 'Genesis'.'. American show "Video Concert Hall" was the first nationwide channel on American televison and predated infamous MTV by almost 3 years. On this programme, it was common for the artists to also be filmed miming to a live track to ensure perfomances were controlled and to also avoid technical issues. This technique is also used in the 21st century. This particular era saw the rise of the importance of music videos and their significance in the marketing world and stars preferred these promos being shown as it made them appear more visually attractive.
-In 1981,MTV, the US video channel launched its first clip of "Video Killed the Radio Star" and kicked off the generation of non-stop music on television (24 hours a day). With this new ideology, the music video became an integral part in popular music marketing. Acts such as 'Adam and the Ants' and 'Duran Duran' "owed a great deal of their success to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos". Two main innovations through the development of the music video market were the relatively easily operated video recording and editing equipment. The revolution of editing products which enabled visual effects (compositing). This led to pop acts being able to produce quick, cheap and high quality videos efficiently. It is also evidenced that directors and acts worked closely together to explore and widen the form as well as style of a music genre by utilising advanced effects. Mixing film and video and adding a story line.
The idea of a non-representational video became established as well, where the artist was not pictured throughout. An example of this is Bruce Springsteen's video of "Atlantic City". In 1983, arguably the most iconic video of all time, "Thriller" was released which was 14 minutes long, suggesting a factor of why it was so unique. In 1985 the video for "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits, showed the pioneering use of computer animation and aided the song in making it an international hit.
- The 90s and early 21st century saw the establishment of the internet broadcasting music videos through website such as Youtube, iFilm and Napster. These enabled users to upload and share video files. 2005 saw the launch of Youtube which made online video viewing much faster and easier. Other websites such as Google Videos, Yahoo!, Facebook and Myspace. These had a huge effect on the viewing of music videos and some artists recognised the potential of this newly found internet market. Bands such as 'OK Go' have reached fame through this market such as their video for "Here It Goes Again" where they are pictured doing an extensive dance routine on treadmills In 2007, the RiAA prevented uses from sharing videos as this was copyright from the record labels although some view it as free advertising of their artists which ultimately is a positive thing - or on the other hand as a product itself, not an advertisement hence the copyright agreements made with Youtube etc. Videos like "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga have made news by becoming the most viewed video on Youtube of all time with over 400 million hits highlighting the success of internet popularity and sharing. The introduction of programmes such as "VEVO" also enhance advertising revenue for the websites as well as record labels.
- Lyric Videos have increased in popularity since 2010. These can be seen often released by the record labels as an alternative to an actual music video. This typically shows the lyrics of the song being played featuring the lyrics to the song in time. Artists such as David Guetta and Ce Lo Green have followed this trend. These lyrics videos are not only promotional but also as a cheaper alternative to full scale production.
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