PRODUCT · EDITORIAL

Like having Chad on staff, for $49.

A real A&R writeup in your inbox on every new artist. Why it landed, what signal triggered it, and what to watch next. Written by Chad.

Who it is for

Anyone who would hire another A&R rep if they could.

Managers, agents, label A&R, supervisors. The people who could use one more set of trained ears, but cannot afford another full-time hire.

The problem

Data alone does not tell you whether to care.

A dashboard shows what moved. An editorial note tells you whether the artist behind it is worth your time, your call, your meeting. The note is the part that takes 19 years of doing the job to write.

What it tracks

The signals that matter.

01
Why it landed
The actual reason this artist made the radar. Specific, not generic.
02
What is moving
The one or two signals doing the real work right now.
03
Comp artists
Who else is moving the same way. Context for the trend.
04
What to watch
The next 7 to 14 days. When to revisit, what to look for.
05
Risk flags
Bot UGC, fake spikes, fluke virality. Called out, not buried.
06
Chad’s read
The taste call. The actual answer to "is this worth a meeting".
The method

Machines do the watching. I do the listening.

AI Agents · 24/7

The data layer.

AI agents surface the candidate. The notes pull from the same data the dashboard runs on.

Chad Hillard · Manual

The taste layer.

I write every editorial note myself. No autogen, no template. The read is mine, the framing is mine, the call is mine. That is the entire product.

A real one

Here is what an editorial note actually looks like.

Sent to every subscriber. Written by Chad. The format below is the live email, not a mockup.

Live email, sent to subscribers May 2026.

See it for yourself.

Start a 7-day trial and see what BTD surfaces this week. Or join the free newsletter and read along first.

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