FOR A&R TEAMS

Find artists before the market agrees.

We pay attention every day. The dashboard turns what is moving in the indie market into a curated view, shaped by 19 years of finding artists early.

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Who it is for

Scouts, A&R reps, and label hunting teams.

A&R reps and scouts at labels and management companies looking for artists before the market locks in. People paid to find the next one, not just confirm what is already moving.

The problem

The shortlist is the hard part.

By the time an artist is obvious, everyone has the same data. The chart, the playlist add, the press hit. By the time you have it, three other A&Rs do too. The competitive edge is in the weeks before any of that.

What BTD tracks

The signals that matter for this role.

Stream velocity

Daily Spotify streams on the top song. The one number that confirms momentum is real.

Monthly listener swings

Artist-level monthly listeners. The leading indicator most platforms hide.

UGC growth

Daily TikTok and Instagram video counts across the top 10+ songs.

Catalog watch

An artist’s top 10 songs plus every new release, tracked from day one.

Social Score

Our proprietary blend of momentum, consistency, and engagement. Updated daily.

Spike alerts

In-dashboard badges and email on stream velocity, sustained momentum, UGC spikes, and social follower jumps.

The method

Machines do the watching. I do the listening.

AI Agents · 24/7

The data layer.

AI agents scroll TikTok daily, the FYP and hundreds of hashtags, surfacing artists with unusual movement. The output is a triaged feed of candidates, not a firehose.

Chad Hillard · Manual

The taste layer.

I separate real taste and culture fit from fake spikes. Bot UGC gets cut. One viral moment without a song behind it gets cut. What lands on your dashboard has been heard.

Sample signal report

Here is what early looks like for you.

Hit our radar Jan 28, 2026 with 2,574 followers and 2K Spotify streams on a single track. 82 days later, the data was right.

Jerri

Hit our radar Jan 28, 2026 · 82-day window · Independent

Loop streams

2K→9.6M

Monthly listeners

254K→764K

TikTok UGC

2.3K→140K

Instagram UGC

752→18K

For an A&R team, this is the window. Sign here and the deal is reasonable. Sign in week 12 and you are bidding against three majors.

Get the shortlist before the room.

Start a 7-day trial and see what BTD would surface for your role this week. Or join The Radar, the free weekly newsletter, and read along first.

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