What Is an A&R in Music? Tools to Find the Next Star

Natalie Brooks

May 8, 2025

Understanding A&R in Music

A&R (Artists and Repertoire) is one of the most crucial roles in the music industry, acting as the bridge between artists and record labels, publishers, or other music companies. The job of an A&R professional revolves around discovering new talent, nurturing artists’ careers, and helping them develop their sound and brand. This involves scouting unsigned musicians, monitoring trends, analyzing market data, and negotiating contracts. A&R representatives also play a key role in shaping an artist’s trajectory by connecting them with producers, songwriters, and marketing teams.

Traditionally, A&R was based on intuition, live scouting, and word-of-mouth recommendations. However, in today’s data-driven music industry, relying on powerful analytics tools has become a necessity. These tools help A&R professionals make informed decisions by providing real-time insights into an artist’s performance across various platforms.

Comparing Pricing for A&R Tools

Two of the top music analytics services that cater to A&R professionals are Viberate and Soundcharts. Viberate offers its services starting at €19.90 per month when billed annually (€239 per year), making it an affordable yet powerful option. Soundcharts, on the other hand, starts at $129 per month, totaling $1,548 per year. While both platforms offer valuable A&R insights, their pricing and features cater to different levels of industry professionals.

The Best Tools for A&R Professionals

Viberate: Data-Driven Talent Discovery

Viberate provides an advanced A&R toolset designed to streamline talent discovery and evaluation. The platform offers a comprehensive chart system that ranks artists based on their music and social media performance.

A&R Charts with Advanced Filters

Viberate’s A&R charts allow professionals to search for talent using genre, geolocation, and performance filters. By starting with an unbiased, data-driven ranking, users can identify artists with growing fanbases and strong engagement across multiple platforms. The platform goes beyond established names and brings emerging talent into focus.

Pinpointing Talent with Precision

With Viberate’s advanced A&R filters, users can refine their searches by setting parameters such as country, genre, subgenre, and performance metrics. "HOT" filters highlight trending artists, while users can also filter by rank, fanbase size, and performance on major streaming and social media channels, including Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and SoundCloud.

Saving and Tracking Data

A&R professionals can save their customized charts and access them under the “Saved Charts” section. These charts update in real-time, ensuring that users always have the latest insights into the artists they are tracking.

Deep Performance Screening

Beyond raw data, Viberate provides a "Career Health" speedometer and a "Career Performance" trajectory. These synthetic indicators compile multiple metrics to give a clear picture of an artist’s overall progress. The customizable "Custom View" dashboard enables users to tailor their analytics workflow, saving sections that are most relevant to their scouting process.

Following and Comparing Artists

Users can follow artists of interest, tracking their growth and comparing them side by side. The "Following" filter on the artist chart ensures that promising talent remains on the radar.

Soundcharts: Real-Time Music Discovery for A&R Professionals

Soundcharts is another powerful A&R research platform that provides real-time data on over five million artists worldwide. The platform is built on a combination of data science and clean metadata, making it a strong choice for industry professionals looking for immediate insights into emerging talent.

Comprehensive Data for Talent Scouting

Soundcharts delivers real-time analytics on an artist’s fanbase and streaming performance. The platform is accessible on both desktop and mobile, ensuring A&R professionals can make scouting decisions on the go.

Custom Blocklists for Targeted Discovery

A unique feature of Soundcharts is its custom blocklist functionality, which allows users to hide known songs, artists, or labels. This ensures that professionals focus only on discovering new, untapped talent rather than being distracted by familiar names.

Custom Algorithmic Charts

Users can create tailored song or artist charts based on specific parameters such as country, genre, or streaming platform. The system allows for flexible updates, enabling professionals to choose the refresh frequency and depth of their custom charts, whether they need a top 100, top 1,000, or even a top 100,000 list.

Artist Notifications and Reports

Soundcharts also provides notification and reporting features, enabling users to receive alerts on artist activity and trends. This allows A&R teams to stay ahead of the curve and act quickly on emerging opportunities.

Choosing the Right A&R Tool

Both Viberate and Soundcharts provide powerful tools for A&R professionals, but the choice depends on individual needs and budget. Viberate is a cost-effective option with a strong focus on data-driven talent discovery, making it an excellent choice for independent A&R professionals and smaller teams. On the other hand, Soundcharts offers real-time monitoring and advanced filtering options, making it ideal for larger labels and agencies that require a high volume of analytics.

As A&R continues to evolve, utilizing these tools ensures professionals stay ahead in discovering and nurturing the next generation of artists. Whether scouting for the next big act or analyzing the growth potential of an artist, leveraging data-driven platforms like Viberate and Soundcharts can make all the difference in making smarter, more strategic decisions.