In a world where everyone is working remotely and digital scouting is the only way to discover hot new artists, how can you sift through the tens of thousands of tracks released every day to find the talent that matters?
That’s where Instrumental comes in. A long-term partner of MBW, the company uses data science to comb streaming services and social media to discover and track new, commercially interesting artists every day.
Over the last three years Instrumental has developed a ‘hot score’ that flags artists daily that are seeing exceptional performance across a range of key metrics.
It is that pool of talent that goes on to big things, with the algorithm tipping acts like Surfaces, Tones and I, Lil Tecca and Anson Seabra months before they went mainstream.
Now, every week, MBW will highlight five of the most exciting prospects from around the globe from within Instrumental’s current batch of ‘hot’ artists.
Over the period we are all impacted by COVID-19, Instrumental is offering a free 14-day digital scouting workshop to any music business looking to develop their talent discovery processes. Click here to sign up now!
MAY-A, Indie Pop, AU
18-year-old MAY-A is a pop singer-songwriter from Sydney Australia.
Her most recent track Green gained over 60,000 Spotify streams in just five days.
Following this release MAY-A became a ‘Hot’ artist on the Instrumental platform four days ago, remaining on a ‘Hot’ streak today. The track has since been added to editorial playlists including Study Zone and New Music Friday Phillippines.
Having supported Wafia on her Australia tour back in January, we’re looking forward to seeing what’s next for MAY-A. Check out her music video for Greenherewhich was released last week and has already had more than 4,000 views.
yaeow, Emo Rap, UK
UK-based up-and-comer yaeow emerged at the beginning of 2020. He’s now got 1.6 million monthly listeners and over 5 million Spotify Streams under his belt.
He became a ‘Hot’ artist on the Instrumental platform in March following his collaboration with Rnla on the single Free With You; his soulful vocals acting as a foil to Rnla’s lo-fi beats.
Equally as impressive is the nearly 1 million views of his video for I Wish I Was Better– released just two weeks ago – not bad considering he only set up his YouTube account in December 2019.
Yaeow has now been on a ‘Hot’ streak for 44 days and counting. It’s been a swift rise for yaeow, so expect big things in not too distant future.
boylife, Lo-Fi Chill, USA
Ryan Yoo, otherwise known as boylife, is a singer/songwriter living in LA. With 419,000 Spotify Monthly Listeners from only two releases so far, boylife is bringing some new energy to the Lo-Fi beats scene.
His growth isn’t solely tied to his music though – the last three months have seen his Instagram audience grow by a respectable 44%.
boylife became a ‘Hot’ artist on the Instrumental platform on April 11 and has been on a hot streak ever since.He’s since released his second single, bummy! which has grown 178,000 streams in a week.
He’s already received significant attention from the press, including a feature article in Affinity, which delves into the meaning behind the lyrics of his debut single peas.
Cian Ducrot, Irish Pop, IE
First turning the heads of Will.i.am and Paloma Faith on The Voice back in 2016, Cian Ducrot is back in the spotlight of the Irish Pop scene this year.
Cian became ‘Hot’ on the Instrumental platform at the beginning of April, in line with the release of his single fucked up all the time, a song with vulnerable and honest lyrics which many will relate to.
This track has gained 214,000 Spotify Streams and features on the likes of Sad Songs and Chilled Pop Hits. Cian remains on a ‘Hot’ streak today.
He featured in a Wonderland article last month which details the struggles he faced leading to writing his latest release; struggles which gave him the creative ammunition to write what is quite possibly his best song yet.
Tora, Indie R&B, UK
Tora is an up and coming R&B artist from London who released her debut single Vein at the beginning of 2020.
She’s since released two more singles which have collectively amassed over 600,000 Spotify streams. Add her 24,000 YouTube views on Vein into the mix and there’s an emerging story of an artist very much on the up.
She first became ‘Hot’ on the Instrumental platform in March. Following her latest release, Call Your Name she’s become hot again.
Her sharp, soulful and experimental sound saw her feature in The Fader back in March of this year.Music Business Worldwide
