Playlist: Caroline Bottomley

Stepping up for this week's Playlist is Caroline Bottomley, founder of Radar, the ground-breaking and award-winning platform which connects up & coming creatives with music marketing commissioners.

In addition to Radar, Bottomly last year launched the The Radar Awards, an award show dedicated to celebrating the best up & coming creatives, helping the winners connect to world class agencies, reps & production companies.

To find out more click the picture below.

What’s the best promo you’ve seen recently and why?

Ryan Staake’s Young Thug video [Wyclef Jean] stands out for many reasons. It’s clever and it’s brave, you can see the thinking behind it very clearly and it’s intriguing because you can also imagine a conspiracy alternative - which has driven a lot of the engagement around the video.

Every music video professional I’ve ever spoken to says standout videos are “all about the concept”, and this video is all about the concept. I also like how it reveals the ridiculous as ridiculous - e.g. loads of women driving toy cars (deeply sad and mocking).

And best of all, Radar scouted Ryan Staake many years ago, he still has an account with us! Go Ryan Staake!

What’s the first promo you remember being impressed by?

The first promo we were SUPPOSED to be impressed by was Michael Jackson’s Thriller, (1983), it got a lot of pre-release hype. It was very exciting event television - a ‘Tube’ special, with Paula Yates & all talking up the special TX at midnight. I didn’t like it, I thought it was silly and same-y. I can appreciate the video much more now, but it still doesn’t rock my world.

The first video I DID love was Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer by Stephen R. Johnson (1986) and animated by Aardman. It was jaw-droppingly innovative and whenever it came on TV (Channel Four’s Chart Show I think) me and friends were glued.

And what’s your all-time favourite music video?

Baby’s On Fire, Die Antwoord 2012 Ninja co-directs alongside Terence Neale.

It’s so sexy! I love Yolande in this video, she’s sassy and interesting. She likes sex and her boyfriends are gorgeously exciting - and skilled! Ninja is an excellent twat and the parents are hilarious.

It’s a gloriously well-made video, utterly distinctive and utterly aligned to brand Die Antwoord. It’s a bit marred in places, but I can watch it over and over.

What other directors/artists do you look to for inspirational?

Always interested in directors who like to plough their own furrow & who like to mess around with the form of music video - Ninian Doff, Casey & Ewan, Ben Reed. I’m also interested in women who make distinctive videos with interesting women in them. Roisin Murphy, Dawn Shadforth, MIA.

Less well known perhaps, Carly Cussen, Holly Blakey, Raine Allen-Miller.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Right now, the Today programme on Radio 4. Recently, Migos, John Shuttleworth, Burt Baccarach, Queens of the Stone Age [below], Steely Dan [bottom]

What’s your favourite bit of tech, whether for professional or personal use?

I rather like Wrike for collaborative project planning & I have a lovely battery charger from The Mill, that doesn’t weigh half a ton. 

What artist(s) would you most like to work with and why? 

This is a bit of a cop-out, but any artist who has someone doing interesting commissioning for them - or who is doing it for themselves.

We recently had a lovely brief from Riverman Mgmt for Bad Sounds. They commissioned a series of animators for different sections and stitched it together themselves. With one animator, it could have been quite so-so. With the 5 or 6 they used, they’ve made a really peppy video.

We also had a very interesting brief from Warner’s digital marketing, where she’s got a very clear creative vision for the finished content. That’s not out yet, but can’t wait to see it.

How do you feel the promo industry has changed since you started in it?

Much, much, much more open to new talent. There are thousand flowers blooming. 

New commissioners are working in exciting ways.

Obviously, budgets are much lower, but they are stabilised - experienced commissioners know a certain level of budget is a much better bet for a good video. I wonder what’s going to put the brakes on ad industry budgets though? Are they on? I don’t know.

Music videos have had a resurgence of late; where do you see the industry being in five years’ time?

Very much more multi-skilled. A lot of commissioners are looking for ‘art directors’ for campaigns, meaning someone who’ll set the tone & design the sleeve artwork, multiple versions of merch artwork, banners, social media covers, photography, make teasers, lyric videos and maybe gifs and maybe the official music video too and the stage design. All in one person. I don’t think that’s common yet, but you can see why commissioners would love that.

Also, I’m hearing about label commissioners working with ad agencies for visual content - agency in-house creatives doing low budget label work for the creative freedom it offers. Interesting.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

Our Staffy dog is quite farty and I rather like it.