What Is A&R in 2026? Lessons From Berklee and the TikTok Debate

A&R is a room full of opinions — and the person who convinces the room wins. That became clear to me during my A&R coursework in Berklee College of Music’s one-year Master’s program.

A&R stands for Artist & Repertoire. It’s the division of a record label responsible for talent scouting, signing artists, and overseeing their creative development. Most importantly, A&R acts as the creative liaison between the artist and the label.

Historically, A&R focused on finding artists who were already largely developed. In today’s digital landscape, however, talent can be discovered anywhere in the world with the press of a button. That doesn’t make the job easier—it makes it more complex.

Modern A&R professionals aren’t just discovering artists; they’re career architects. They use a mix of intuition, cultural awareness, data analytics, and social trends to determine whether an artist is worth a label’s long-term time and financial investment. When they believe in someone, they often stay with that artist for most of their career, acting as a collaborator, advocate, and mentor—sometimes understanding the artist’s vision even before the artist fully does.

While at Berklee, alongside a close friend and peer, I co-founded MILA Records, a sub-label under the student-run Disrupción Records, created to elevate Latin artists to a global stage. By the end of the year, we had signed three Latin artists.

Because the label was run solely by us, we handled everything: operations, contracts, marketing, and A&R. Our scouting process started in real life—attending student performances and receiving recommendations—but it never stopped there. We evaluated artists across social platforms, looking not just at numbers but also at commitment: consistency, effort, vision, and how seriously they took their craft.

Once we identified potential, we reached out. We discussed vision, scheduled studio time, booked performances, handled marketing, explained contracts, and supported them wherever needed. This is what A&R work looks like in practice.

That experience shaped how I understood the artist–A&R relationship. But what about the relationship between A&R and the label?

While my direct A&R experience came from running our own label, I also took an intensive, hands-on A&R course during my first semester at Berklee, which included guest speakers currently working across the music industry. One of our major projects involved presenting two artists: one ready for a major-label signing, and one with clear potential but not yet prepared for that level of backing.

We presented these projects to our class and a guest evaluator—someone working in the live events industry who had started his career in A&R. The most interesting discussion that emerged centered on discovering artists through platforms like TikTok.

Several students, myself included, presented artists we had discovered through TikTok. Our guest dismissed this approach as unserious and ineffective. We disagreed.

To be clear, relying on a single platform—TikTok included—is not a foolproof A&R strategy. TikTok is not the goal; it’s a tool. If discovery platforms had been dismissed outright in earlier eras, artists like Justin Bieber—who was discovered on YouTube—might never have been found. More recently, artists such as Benson Boone, JVKE, and Natalie Jane gained early traction through TikTok. Their talent is not lesser because of how they were discovered.

Discovery methods evolve alongside culture. What matters is not the platform, but how effectively it’s used to identify genuine potential.

Once initial talent is identified through social platforms, the work has only begun. Beyond surface-level metrics, A&R looks for patterns: consistent engagement, recurring audiences, varied content that showcases not just skill but personality, vision, and identity. Consistency matters. Follower count alone can be misleading; in many cases, artists with massive followings are no longer “emerging.”

However, artists don’t need to check every box. That’s where artist development comes in. A&R exists to help artists grow and refine their artistry. They do this using their industry network, getting their artist connected to a professional who can help build what they are missing. 

Still, no amount of data replaces intuition. At some point, an A&R professional has to trust their gut and be willing to defend it—because discovering talent isn’t enough. You have to convince the label to see what you see.

TikTok is not the only tool in modern A&R, nor is it the most important. But in 2026, effective A&R means finding artists where they already are—and for many, that’s on social platforms. Respecting past industry practices matters, but clinging to them at the expense of cultural evolution does not.

The industry doesn’t move backward to accommodate discomfort. A&R professionals either evolve with culture or get left behind by it.