State of A&R 2024: Algorithms, AI and A Human Touch [Steve Leeds]

Former MTV, major label and SiriusXM senior executive Steve Leeds has decades of experience discovering, nurturing and marketing talent. Here he takes a look at the state of A&R in 2024.

The State of A&R

by Steve Leeds

The process of finding and selecting talent worthy of recording has continually evolved. 

Who had the  “ears” to determine what would be successful and generate interest. The industry gatekeepers were the key to gaining  the necessary access to provide the necessary exposure, marketing and distribution.  With the changing technology; it became easier for musicians to create but they still needed the backing to share their creativity. 

Much ado has been made about the A&R process being data driven.

The genesis of this started with the man who oversaw all 3 major major label – Doug Morris. In the early 70’s Doug Morris started a boutique label…Big Tree Records.   Some of the artist included: Lobo, England Dan and John Ford Coley, Brownsville Station, April Wine, Hot Chocolate, Cymarron.

It was predominantly a singles label and each release was handled in the following manner:

A secondary market station would add a record and guarantee a enough spins that listeners would hear the song enough to be aware. After several weeks of airplay; calls would be made to local retail outlets to learn if there were any requests for the song even though product was not available.  If there was significant interest; then the record would be serviced nationally with a strong promotional plan.  If there no significant action; then the project would be dropped.

Early examples might be David Geddes, Hot…

Early data research!  But it worked…numerous examples exist.

Where ever Doug Morris went – he usually relied on retail sales feedback to validate.

With the advent of Soundscan; this process was carried through and many promotional and marketing dollars were saved as well as some not so obvious hit songs were identified.

Embryonic, but this became the roots of identifying hit songs. During the process of contacting local retail or via Soundscan; often one would notice a unknown release that had gathered response.  Checking local radio one could find a local or regional tune that was getting reaction. Such was the case with 3 Doors Down and Godsmack and there’s others.

Many labels base the bulk of their signings on data gleaned from online activity. It used to be MySpace in 2003, then in 2005 Facebook and Instagram but now it’s a TikTok world.

But just because a song has a large following on social media does not necessarily translate either to sales or media exposure. But do algorithms always work to define musical taste? Are these really the best choices?  Do we accept these algorithms in other parts of our daily lives?

The ability to identify a song or artist was traditionally based on a subjective hunch and the great A&R men and women used their keen sense to find the next big thing…. Clive Davis, Jerry Wexler, Jac Holzman, John Hammond, Florence Greenberg, Berry Gordy.

What happened to human curation?

Have we become so consumed by business profits that we have forgotten the human element and not considered things like passion?  Music has and always will be a art form.

Handcrafted and crafted are terms now in vogue in food and beverage business – perhaps it’s time that those of us in the music and media business consider those terms and what they reference.

Perhaps check out how John Mayer is programming his channel on SXM as an entry how the gatekeepers should reconsider their decision making process.

The human element is and always be what makes us unique – AI aside!