Numbers game: inside the world of modern A&R
How the sexiest job in music has transformed in the age of data
Has there ever been a sexier job in music than A&R? To fly through the night with a multi-purpose company credit card advancing careers and culture at large with your impeccable taste. The myths of how artists are discovered and signed have only ever been matched by the immaculate conception of songs and sliding-door moments where Paul McCartney very nearly didn’t go to the same church fete as John Lennon. Insider legends are made of people like Gary Gersh, who, against the grain, signed Nirvana to Geffen, while Columbia A&R man Mitch Miller – a trad-pop don down on rock’n’roll to his detriment – passed on Elvis, Buddy Holly and The Beatles. The Scottish author John Niven had his own big, brief failings in A&R, turning away Coldplay and Muse. After that he wrote his debut novel Kill Your Friends, where his protagonist was a deplorable scout from his past career, with an uncanny likeness to American Psycho’s sadist pinup Patrick Bateman. Gleefully nasty and …