Radio broadcast (1950s) Prior to the 1950s, most of musical broadcasts were on a
radio format. Most radio broadcasts were live music such as classical music broadcasts—for example, the
NBC Symphony Orchestra. In the 1950s, three of broadcast television such as
NBC,
CBS, and
ABC (the Big Three) sought to move their popular radio broadcasts to a television format, such as
Texaco Star Theater, which went from a radio broadcast to a telecast. As networks continued to withdraw radio for popular music broadcasting, the recording industry sought to influence sales by using television as a new vessel for promoting for their artists. The coordination between record companies and television saw the incorporation of musical acts in variety shows such as
The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971),
The Stage Show (1954–1956), and
Texaco Star Theater (1948–1956).
Columbia Records was the first to use this method by coordinating the release of a song on CBS's
Studio One and then releasing it on audio format by the label on the next day. This practice introduced the success of the televised format for musical promotion. Performers doing specials on variety shows also became common on television.
Elvis Presley performed on numerous variety shows over the span of multiple per episodes, playing rock-and-roll music. His most controversial performance was his appearance on
Texaco Star Theater where he did his now-signature dance moves of thrusting his pelvis suggestively during a performance of "You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog". This performance served as an opening to have younger and newer music targeted at a younger demographic; previously telecasts were typically targeted towards the adult audience.
Network television (1960–1980) In the 1960s, NBC, CBS and ABC formed most of the music television market establishing themselves as the main sources for current music. The shift in production modality started to attract corporate sponsorships such as
Ford, who used ad space in
The Lively Ones to promote the Fairlane sedan to young-aged car buyers. the first 24/7 cable television network completely dedicated the broadcast of music videos. MTV was aimed to reach and profit from the young adult demographic. The purpose of MTV was to reuse previously-made content by record labels for international audiences, which was free, and televise them in America in a top-40 hits format. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, MTV began cultivating a lifestyle for teen and college-aged students. As video clips started to develop certain images for artist, such as
Madonna,
Bruce Springsteen, and
New Kids on The Block, fashion and paraphernalia for these acts were also marketed along with the distribution of music. Network television started to broadcast reality television shows that were related but not focused on industry musical acts such as MTV's
Cribs,
American Idol (US version of Fuller's "Pop Idol"), and NBC's ''
America's Got Talent'' which drew larger audiences than music videos. The 2010s came the appeal of providing more dynamic and fast content such as YouTube channels to premiere music videos and social media accounts with the purpose of staying relevant and continuing to distribute content to the teen/college-aged demographic. On Wednesday December 31, 2025, MTV Music stations ceased to broadcast in the UK. At 05:58 on the main 'MTV Music' channel the last music video played was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by 'The Buggles', the very same video that was the first video aired in 1981. It had a strapline that explained the signing off, and ended with "Thanks for being a part of it". It then faded to the MTV logo. ==Impact on the music industry==