Best A&R Tools: Viberate vs. Soundcharts Full Review

Avery Malone

Feb 12, 2025

In today's fast-paced music industry, A&R (Artist & Repertoire) professionals are constantly on the hunt for emerging talent that can break into the mainstream. However, with thousands of new releases every day and artists making waves across multiple digital platforms, it has become a daunting task to sift through all the data. This is where music analytics tools come in handy, offering data-driven insights to help professionals make informed decisions and discover promising talent faster.

In this article, we'll take a deep dive into two leading A&R research tools: Viberate and Soundcharts. We’ll compare their features, focusing on how they support talent discovery and music analytics. Let's find out which one is the best fit for your needs.

A Quick Pricing Overview

Before we dive into the details, let's briefly compare the pricing of Viberate and Soundcharts.

• Viberate: Starting at €19.90/month, billed annually at €239.
• Soundcharts: Starting at $129/month or $1,548 annually.

Clearly, Viberate offers a more budget-friendly solution compared to Soundcharts, which is almost six times more expensive. Let’s see how their features stack up.

Understanding Modern A&R and Its Challenges

A&R professionals today have a more complex role than ever before. Instead of relying solely on industry connections or traditional scouting methods, today’s A&R relies heavily on data-driven insights to identify promising talent. Music analytics tools help in understanding an artist's audience, trends, and potential, which is crucial for making informed business decisions. The challenge lies in gathering and interpreting this data effectively amidst the noise of numerous digital platforms.

Viberate: The Fast Track to Talent Discovery

Viberate is designed with a clear focus on making A&R easier and faster. Here’s how it achieves that:

Use A&R Dashboards for the Fastest Talent Discovery

Viberate's A&R dashboards are engineered to make the talent discovery process more efficient. The platform’s A&R charts allow professionals to quickly find new talent based on several important factors like genre, location, and performance. With the ability to use advanced filters, Viberate empowers A&R scouts to sift through vast amounts of data and identify potential rising stars.

A&R Music Charts Powered by Data

Viberate’s charting system ranks artists based on their music performance and social media metrics. The unbiased data behind the charts ensures that every artist—from local talents to potential global superstars—can be objectively compared. The Viberate Chart presents a detailed overview of each artist’s performance across platforms like Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and SoundCloud.

Advanced A&R Filters

To help narrow down the search, Viberate offers a set of advanced A&R filters. These filters let users set parameters such as country, genre, subgenre, rank range, and fanbase size. Additionally, users can leverage the "HOT" filters to quickly identify trending artists. This makes it easier to focus on promising talent that is gaining traction in the market.

Save Your Charts for Quick Access

Viberate allows users to save charts with pre-selected filters for easy access in the future. The saved charts are constantly updated, ensuring that users have access to fresh data whenever they revisit their selections. This feature can be particularly valuable for keeping an eye on artists over time and tracking their progress.

In-Depth Performance Screening

Once an artist is identified, Viberate offers detailed insights into their performance across multiple channels. The platform’s "Career Health" speedometer and yearly "Career Performance" trajectory combine various metrics to provide a synthesized view of an artist’s growth and potential. This allows A&R teams to quickly evaluate whether an artist has the necessary upward trajectory for investment.

Custom Views for Efficiency

For those who want to customize their scouting process, Viberate offers a "Custom View" dashboard. This feature enables users to save and prioritize analytics sections that are most relevant to their work. Users can also track the artists they follow, rank them, and analyze them side-by-side, providing a highly personalized A&R experience.

Soundcharts: Real-Time Monitoring for Music Professionals

Soundcharts is another robust solution for A&R professionals, focusing heavily on real-time data and analytics. Here are its main features:

Real-Time Data for Music Discovery

Soundcharts offers a cutting-edge platform for real-time artist discovery, allowing A&R teams to keep up with what’s happening in the music world as it unfolds. With access to real-time data from over 5 million artists, Soundcharts helps music professionals evaluate an artist’s fan base and performance metrics through desktop and mobile devices.

Custom Blocklists for Precision

One of Soundcharts' standout features is the custom blocklists. These allow users to filter out certain artists, songs, or labels from their search results, which can be especially useful when focusing on discovering new talent that’s currently under the radar. This kind of precision filtering helps scouts zero in on artists they haven't discovered yet, without distractions from known names.

Create Custom Charts with Algorithmic Precision

Soundcharts also provides tools to create custom charts based on specific parameters, such as country, genre, or data source. Users can set the refresh frequency and the depth of the chart, making it easy to monitor top artists across different levels, whether it’s the top 100 or the top 100,000. This makes Soundcharts a powerful tool for continuously monitoring emerging trends and artists worldwide.

Notifications and Reports

For scouts who need up-to-date information, Soundcharts offers notifications and reports on artists added to scouting lists. This feature ensures that users never miss an important update, helping them stay informed about an artist's growth in real-time.

Viberate vs. Soundcharts: Which is Better?

While both Viberate and Soundcharts provide powerful A&R tools, they each have distinct advantages depending on your needs and budget.

Viberate is well-suited for A&R professionals looking for a cost-effective solution that offers in-depth artist performance insights, customizable views, and easy-to-use A&R charts. Its focus on filtered A&R tools, data-driven rankings, and efficiency make it a standout choice for those who want a streamlined scouting experience.

Soundcharts, on the other hand, provides a highly detailed and real-time monitoring platform, ideal for those who need immediate data and comprehensive filtering capabilities like custom blocklists. However, the high price point may be a barrier for some, especially for those just starting out or working with smaller budgets.

The Verdict

If you are looking for an affordable and easy-to-use A&R tool that helps you discover emerging talent with detailed insights, Viberate is the clear winner. Its A&R charts and customizable dashboards provide excellent value, making it easier to discover and analyze new talent effectively.

Soundcharts is an excellent choice for those who need real-time data and are willing to invest more for enhanced monitoring capabilities. However, for most A&R professionals, Viberate strikes the right balance between cost, features, and usability, making it the recommended choice.

Ultimately, both tools have their merits, but Viberate’s efficient features and competitive pricing make it the more attractive option for those looking to elevate their A&R strategy without breaking the bank.