Music videos first became popular with the launch of MTV in August of 1981 and they had an immediate and sustained influence on pop culture. Record labels were not paid for use of their videos and considered them strictly a promotional tool. MTV ultimately moved almost entirely away from the music video format to focus on other programming giving way to the rise of cable stations MTV2 and FUSE , but the influence of the music video waned.

The emergence of the Internet and widespread availability of broadband technology provided new outlets for music videos. AOL and Launchcast were two of the first services to make videos over the Internet available on demand. In 2005 iTunes became the first digital retailer to begin selling music videos as downloads.

Digital recording and PC based editing technology began to become very affordable around the same time that Youtube was launched again giving rise to the importance music videos as a promotional tool for artists and record labels. Music videos, artist interviews, video blogs and footage of live shows now provide an artist several options for creating promotional content and utilizing new channels of distribution that allow them to directly reach their fans. Music fans now regularly create their own videos using music from their favorite artists and upload them to popular video sharing sites. The rise of video sharing websites has opened new debates on the legal use of copyrighted material.

If an artist’s record label pays for the production of a music video the costs are typically a recoupable expense for the record label and charged against the artist’s royalties from sales.