A&R is no longer just about discovery and signing, according to James Cattermole of TikTok’s promotion and distribution platform SoundOn.
Cattermole, who is head of A&R and label services at the ByteDance subsidiary, said the role is increasingly focused on supporting campaigns and building sustainable careers for artists.
"I find a label I love, build the relationship, we do a deal, and I’m working with them on the frontline," he told Music Week. "It’s very much end-to- end now – being involved in the campaign, supporting marketing and promo. So, obviously, discovery and having a great ear and being across data are crucial. You’re the one who – pardon my French – gives the biggest shit about the record, so it makes sense you’re part of its success, too. The A&Rs winning now are the ones making tangible impacts beyond just discovery and signing.”
Recent SoundOn successes include I Run (477,175 sales, OCC) by Haven & Kaitlin Aragon, which charted at No.9 in the UK, and Tkandz & Cxsper, whose viral Top 30 hit Now Or Never (210,480 sales) made Spotify’s Top 100 most streamed tracks globally.
Meanwhile, Temper City’s debut single Self Aware (245,543 sales) – released and promoted via SoundOn in partnership with indie label Thirty Knots – has cracked the UK Top 30 and US Top 100. At last count, it had soundtracked over 6.4m TikTok videos, which have been viewed more than 11bn times.
As well as having breakout success stories, we’re looking to build sustainability with those artists
James Cattermole, TikTok
Speaking in the September edition of Music Week, Cattermole said his approach reflects a shift in A&R towards using data to identify opportunities – and building on them beyond a breakout track.
"We’re utilising data end-to-end – from discovery to campaign execution, through to scaling globally," he said. "But as well as having breakout success stories, we’re looking to build sustainability with those artists. You can have one big track and that’s fantastic, but what’s the next project you’re working towards? Is that going to result in you selling out a tour, or getting that big support slot?
"With Temper City, for example, we’re only one single in, but that’s been a sustained campaign, not a quick-hit gold rush. It’s been building since February, and off the back of that continuous success they’ve supported Muse and Lewis Capaldi, and sold out their debut headline shows. That’s what we’re looking to do: the discovery, nurturing, and execution of those early singles and breakthroughs, and how we can then turn that into a sustained career for our partners.”
Cattermole spent close to a decade at Absolute Label Services, rising to head of label services prior to joining SoundOn in a business development role in 2024. He most recently served as SoundOn’s head of label services EMEA before his promotion. In his new role, he is responsible for the continued global/EMEA growth across the division, alongside A&R strategy and execution.
Offering his take on practices across the business, Cattermole praised the speed of the new generation of A&Rs, who he said are getting onto records earlier.
“I’ve had the luxury of working with some of the most future-thinking record labels, and seeing how their A&R departments work is inspiring," he said. "The speed at which young A&Rs are getting onto things – and how early – is important. We didn’t have dedicated A&Rs going out just for business development. This comes from my previous work at Absolute, where we didn’t have a dedicated A&R team; we had a team that covered the discovery, the signing, and then the management of those clients."
Despite being a self-confessed “data guy”, Cattermole said gut feeling remains just as important when deciding what to sign.
“We’ve had records that I wasn’t sure would be hits but the data suggested they would be, and they were," he said. "Temper City, for example – as soon as I heard that record, I was hooked. I’ve got the receipts: I was messaging my MD saying, ‘This is going to be our next big one’ when it was doing about 20,000 streams a day. But the data – the conversion and growth – was also showing signs it could be big. People have to want to listen to a record, right? So it’s a combination of the two.”
For Cattermole, that discovery process increasingly happens on TikTok.
“For me, it’s living on the FYP [For You Page] and seeing what’s working, what people are liking, looking at the comments, using that as a feedback loop," he said.
Subscribers can read the full interview with Cattermole here.
