This episode of About Your Mother is my conversation with Beth Broday – a pioneer in producing who put music videos on the map beginning with Prince’s Little Red Corvette.

Beth Broday is a storyteller and has mastered the art of Becoming. Throughout the various stages of work and life, she saw the lessons in each experience, never afraid to make a U-turn that led to something beautiful.

Her storytelling is like butter. Towards the end, enjoy our banter on working with some of the world’s greatest musicians of all time.

Reflections of the Mother

Beth shares that her mother always loved art and was also quite fond of theater.

“She took my father and dragged him all over the world: every museum, every city, every café — she wanted to see the world. She wanted to see it with him, and so, they went.” – Beth Broday

Beth’s mother was a cultured and bright woman, and her dream was for Beth to experience the same things she had. Upon Beth’s graduation, her mother’s gift to her was a trip to Europe.

The Business of the Music Business

Beth knew that she wanted to be part of the music business early on. But it was quite hard to get into, as she admits she couldn’t sing or play any instruments. But she knew there were other ways she could be involved in the business.

“I got very lucky, I was in the right place at the right time. I had the knowledge of how to make film, and how to make videos — I knew how to do that stuff. Whereas most people my age in those days, they didn’t know anything about that. But I did, because I went to college and studied that.” – Beth Broday

Later on, being hired by a major record producer opened up opportunities for her to meet people at high levels of the music recording business. As she observed a director shooting videos for artists, she thought: “I already know how to do this from college.”

She also thought it would be a good program idea, rather than just one-off artists’ videos. So with that knowledge and collaboration with people from different labels, Beth got things done. All of this led to a call from Warner Brothers Records in 1983, asking Beth to film a video for the song Little Red Corvette by a 26-year-old artist named Prince.

Beth Broday on Working with the Artists

When asked what it was like to collaborate with artists, Beth shares how much it meant to her:

“For me, it was incredible that I would be able to bring something to their career. That I would be able to help them get their image out there, and help refine their image. Because over the years as music videos became very common, they became more like marketing vehicles. And so I, on a business level, not only manage production, but I had to manage the image of that artist based on what director I would put with that artist in order to create what the label and the artist wanted to achieve.” – Beth Broday

With the eventual launch of MTV and an even higher demand for artists to put out music videos, Beth found herself in the middle of it all. She was again at the right place at the right time, with all her connections with various directors and talent.

Beth felt like she had to share this good fortune with others, so she made it her mission to find young filmmakers who did great work but needed that initial boost to break through the music and filming industry. Hence began her mission to discover all young, talented filmmakers in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and London.

To hear more from Beth Broday and her fascinating story on becoming, download and listen to this episode.