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The 3 Real Ways Musicians Get Signed (And How to Make It Happen)

I've probably read a newsletter with a title like this 100 times. It's the type the grifters love to con musicians with. The fact is, most of the people who write these are just regurgitating another article they read somewhere. In this piece, I wanted to show you how I see artists get signed to labels, booking agencies, and management companies, drawing on my own experience and discussions with my network of A&Rs, managers, and booking agents.

Method #1: Trending Data and Charts

Our first method, which is by far the most popular method for major labels today, is that they watch charts and trending data. Unlike five years ago, A&Rs are able to easily see which artists are trending with software that shows when an artist or song is growing very fast. These platforms can narrow that down to genres and all sorts of filters, so if you are scouting talent, you can easily see only what you want to see.

This technique isn't new—it's just gotten way easier to do from your couch while a computer does the hard work. When I was a teenager, I was a scout for some A&R at big indie labels. They recognized that since I ran one of the coolest record stores in NYC and did sound at clubs, I knew what artists the kids were excited about before a lot of people. They'd bribe me with some pizza or a beer and bragging rights of being an unpaid scout for telling them which groups had enthusiasm first.

Now they can see that with data. Chartmetric is a perfect example of the software used to analyze this data. That platform lets you see if an artist is trending upwards and if it's genuine and not a bunch of bots they bought. When we first got this type of data, a lot of A&R made the mistake of signing groups that used bots to generate plays. But we're now past that era. While tons of clowns still use bots, it's easy to see their little clown noses and they think they're fooling people, but really, all they are fooling is other members of the clown car.

Enjoying this? Forward it to a music friend you’d like to be closer to and start a discussion!

Aside from Chartmetric, there are a handful of sites designed to alert A&R of artists on the rise in certain genres. If we're being honest, this is where most A&R and managers are looking to find artists these days. These people have always been looking to find artists audiences genuinely react to, and now they can easily see that. It makes their bet on an artist being easy to market be backed up by some proof, so it's a smart decision for them.

I can read some of your minds—you are wondering how you can exploit this. Here's the thing, and I actually think this is largely good for music since it means fans are legitimately reacting to music and telling each other about it, and the music begins to trend. What this tells me is that if you want to be found this way, you should be doing all the things I teach.

Some of you will push back on me and say, "What about artists like Bhad Bhabie or the latest TikTok influencer fuckboy turned singer?" Yes, some managers and A&R are legitimately interested in working with these artists, but there's a hidden detail to how these people get signed. I need a few minutes to get there, which brings us to our next method.

An Incel’s Idea Of Dating

Now, the next part of this is a thing I like to call an incel’s idea of dating, but it actually works. An incel largely envisions going up to someone hot, and bragging how great they are, till they finally give in and have a date with them, and are worn down to get into a relationship with them. But the fact is, this works to get a manager or a record deal. If you talk to of those people they are very unlikely to whip out a contract the first time you meet them, but if every two months or so you write them after meeting them and update themn on your progress and show them some data, or enthusiasm fans are showing to you and that you are making progress this is how countless artists have been signed.

Method #2: Co-Signs (And Why Island Boys Never Get Signed)

Before we even get into what I mean by co-signs, I want to talk to you about what I like to call "Island Boys." I do not mean that you are questionably awful people with an extremely cringe look. There are some similarities between what I call Island Boys and the atrocity the internet calls The Island Boys.

What I like to call Island Boys are the artists who don't interact with their community at all. They don't work with directors who work with other artists in their scene. They don't use mixers that other artists in their community use. They don't play shows with anyone in their community. Yes, if you're familiar with my work, they have done none of the community building I constantly talk about.

These artists are islands. Because of that, no one ever hears about them since they are stuck out on this island that almost no one ever goes near. Whereas the artists who do interact with other artists, directors, producers, and mixers well, they amass a bunch of people that algorithms can recommend and that are getting organic mentions from influential people, which gets you listens.

Method #2: How to Get Co-Signs

Let's talk about the opposite of this. One of the most common paths where an artist gets signed is through co-signs. When artists do their community work, they are able to find the people who are doing the best work in their community.

Here's a good example. Let's say you have filled out your community spreadsheet and you see that all the artists who are a little bigger than you are being mixed by the same two people. Let's say you hit them up and they love what you do. Then, as does their mastering engineer. When you release your song, and you tag them on Instagram, and they reshare your song praising it, you know who else sees it? All the other artists they work with, their managers, and A&R also see it. As long as your music isn't trash, you probably are going to have your world expanded and stop being an island.

I don't mean to imply doing this once will lead you to be signed, but doing this constantly and then having other musicians from your community who also work with these people sharing your track—well, it just continues the chances that the people in your community who work at labels, booking agencies, and management companies check you out and see you are talented and know the community and want to work with you.

Of course, this all compounds when you've done the same thing with directors, photographers, and designers for your album and merch, who are followed by all the A&R and managers they work for. They keep seeing your name and increasing the chance you are heard by the ears of people who are in the business and work with artists like you. Especially when you are doing this along with consistent sustained promotion, the right people who are actually in the business begin to see you.

When I have said the problem with Facebook ads is that they give you the worst quality fans, these are the opposite of that. The people paying attention to these posts are the best quality fans you can ask for, as they are connected people in the business talking to other people who can open doors for you.

What compounds this even more is if you're playing live with groups in your community or even making content like going live on Instagram with them. You're just going to continue to increase the chances that the right people see you. The fact is, the more you do this, the more you build a web around you.

Here's the funny thing: so many of you will think that's going to cost way too much money. The funny thing about music is that oftentimes, the people who are up and coming and doing amazing work are still cheap. Now that everyone and their mother has a home studio, the price for even talented people is often lower than you think. That goes for video directors, photographers, and designers.

Once you have a co-sign from a label, manager, or booking agent, they then take you to the other teams and contacts they have and try to get them on the team. If you get the eye from one person who is in the business, they will often take you around and share your music as you share it until more of their contacts come aboard. A great story that illustrates this is the interview I did with Bartees Strange.

I've been doing this long enough to anticipate your reactions: some of you will say you've done this, but the people you work with never share your stuff. My first suggestion is find people who believe in you and examine if you actually tagged that person on Instagram. I have been accused of not sharing before, and then the artists realize they never tagged me in a story or messaged me to tell me they did. If I don't follow them, it dies in my message requests. But sometimes they just aren't proud of the work they've done with you, and you should take this as a hint to get better or perhaps to get singing lessons since you sing as badly as the aforementioned Island Boys.

About Those TikTok Influencers: Some of you waste your time thinking all day about all 15 times each year TikTok influencers get signed as they pivot to music from doing some dance where they balance butcher knives on their forehead. You fixate on this exception to the rule instead of focusing on the rule.

As someone who's been very close to a few of those artists, the unseen hand here is because they have pivoted to music and gone to a really well-established producer. That producer then co-signs them and tells their fancy A&R friends about them and says they are actually talented and shows that A&R a fire track they made with them. Then the co-sign happens, and all of a sudden, said influencer has pivoted not just to musician but signed artist.

Trust me, every A&R and manager has a story of the influencer they wanted to sign, but they were a tone-deaf idiot who wanted to sing Tony Bennett covers, and they had to pass. The garbage cans of their offices are littered with these people. Trust me, it's all about the co-signs.

Method #3: Being Good at TikTok

Even if you are an Island Boy, all hope is not lost, which brings us to the third and final way musicians get signed today. Let's say you're thinking, "Jesse, I am DIY till I die, I don't wanna work with any of these people, I am a proud Island Boy."

I'd first advise you to never call yourself that in front of anyone else again. I'd second like to remind you that the wise man Derek Sivers once revised DIY to be "Decide It Yourself" instead of "Do It Yourself." Truly, what really matters here is that you get to make your own creative decisions, not that you do everything yourself. I doubt you're going to do that forever if you get funding, since literally no artist ever does when they realize they can concentrate their attention elsewhere and work with talented people.

The final way people get signed today is by being good at TikTok. Truly, every person in the music business is combing TikTok all day trying to get it and also seeing the groups who are good at it and trying to get their artists who are not to learn how to be good at it. But they are also happy to skip that step and just sign an artist who's already good at it.

I am not saying that if you sing as badly as the Island Boys but are posting numbers on TikTok, you're going to have contracts thrown at you like bras from MAGA MILFs at a Kid Rock concert. But if you are talented at TikTok and make good music, everyone in music right now is enamored with trying to understand the power of TikTok. If you are good at it, you are valuable to a manager or label. They see that you are someone astute enough to build a following.

The fact is, many people in music don't trust they know a hit when they hear one, but they do know charismatic people who get followings that are monetizable, and that's what they jump on. Which kinda is like the trending data we discussed first.

Really, these are the only three ways I see anyone get signed that aren't exceptions to the rule.

Thanks for reading.