How to find new artists to sign
For eight years, finding artists was part of my morning. A coffee, my laptop, and an hour or two going through new music before the rest of the day took over. This is the method I used as an A&R at Panther's Groove and then as head of A&R at Distinct Records, and it's the method I later built SOUNDAR on. It works, but it eats hours every day. Here's how it goes when you do it by hand.
Where I looked
Release Radar was my starting point most days. Spotify builds it from what you already listen to, so if you train your account on the sound of your label, it turns into a daily feed of new releases close to what you're looking for. It's worth keeping a separate account just for digging so your personal listening doesn't blur it.
Editorial playlists came next. When an unknown artist lands on a genre playlist curated by Spotify's editors, someone has already decided the track deserves attention. Those placements are some of the clearest early signals you'll get, and keeping up with them by hand is exhausting. It's one of the signals SOUNDAR tracks for you every morning.
Other labels' releases were probably my most reliable source. Following labels you respect, and the ones just below them, shows you who is starting to release on decent imprints. If an artist has put out a track on a label with good taste, a lot of the filtering has been done for you.
Instagram and TikTok became essential over the years. A lot of artists now build their audience there before anything happens on streaming. A short clip of a track that keeps getting shared, or a producer posting studio content that people actually engage with, can tell you more than a play count.
What made me look closer
A release on another label I respected. Playlist adds, especially editorial ones. And then something harder to measure: how the artist presents themselves. Strong branding and real engagement on social media usually mean the artist understands who they are and who they're making music for. That matters as much as one good track, because a label is signing a project, not a single file.
What made me pass
The music could be good and I would still hold back when I saw a few things.
Inconsistency was the first. Long gaps with nothing, then a burst of releases in completely different styles. It usually means the artist hasn't found their direction yet.
Poor branding was the second. No clear visual identity, artwork that changes with every release, profiles that are hard to find. It isn't about having a big budget. It's about the artist taking their own project seriously.
The third was a lack of artistic direction. When I couldn't describe what an artist sounded like after listening to five of their tracks, it was hard to imagine how we would build something together.
None of these are permanent. An artist who doesn't fit today can be exactly right a year later, which is why it's worth keeping track of them.
Reach out anyway
If an artist caught my ear, I almost always got in touch, even if their released music wasn't quite right for the label. You never know what someone has sitting on their hard drive. Some of the best demos I received came from artists whose public releases were a different style from what they were working on privately.
A short, personal message costs you a few minutes. The worst that happens is a polite no. Multiply those few minutes by every artist worth contacting, though, and it adds up fast. SOUNDAR sends that first message for you, from your own email and in your own words, and the demos come back to one inbox.
Keep a list, and share it
My system was simple: spreadsheets made on the fly, one line per artist, with a link, where I found them, and a note on why. I shared them with the team on WhatsApp and Messenger so everyone could listen and give their opinion quickly. Nothing fancy, but it meant we didn't lose track of anyone, and decisions were made together.
It worked, but it was messy. Links got lost in group chats, nobody knew which sheet was the latest, and opinions were scattered across three apps. In SOUNDAR this all lives in one place: a watchlist for the artists you want to follow, a history of every artist you've contacted and what happened next, and a private listening link where your team can play the demos you've shortlisted, vote and leave comments.
However you do it, keep that list. Artists you pass on today are often the ones you come back to.
The part that doesn't scale
This routine works, but it takes time every single day, and the volume keeps growing. Around 100,000 new tracks are released on streaming platforms daily. The more your label grows, the less time you have to dig, and the more likely it is that the right artist slips past.
That's the part I built SOUNDAR to take over. You set your label's sound once, with three artists you'd sign tomorrow. It searches every morning for rising artists who fit your label's sound and reaches out to them from your own email, so the hour with the coffee goes to listening to demos instead of searching for them.