Finding Riot Child: One Music Business Veteran’s Secret Method for Fishing Star Power Out of a Sea of Music

Jeff Blue isn’t your ordinary A&R exec or manager. He’s on a quest to seek out and develop unsung talent--then help these artists make it big. And he’s done it, dozens of times, working with everyone from Linkin Park to Macy Gray.

“I search for talent and potential in songs, for identifiable voices, great writing, artistic integrity, unique sound design, and star quality,” Blue says. “I can tell this by a single song. I can determine if it is worth doing a consultation.”

That’s just the beginning. Blue puts bands through their paces, working on every aspect of their repertoire and performance. “Almost all bands think they are ready to be signed. But it’s really about challenging their artistic vision, experimenting with the sound, style, and concept so we can add to their strengths and subtract from their weaknesses,” reflects Blue. “I always tell bands, even if you’ve already made a full record, be ready to accept that it may not be what we will end up shopping. The bands that succeed embrace the challenge! You can’t always expect things to fall in your lap, and nothing ever goes as planned. That’s what makes this creative business exciting.”

Finding the band or artists who can take this journey can be daunting, in an era when anyone can record and upload their music. The volume is high, the quality varies, and sorting through it all takes time. One vital tool Blue uses to track down artists with real promise: Music Xray, the 21st-century A&R platform that merges human expertise and machine learning.

“I use Music Xray in a very specific way,” explains the veteran music businessman, who has 43 platinum artists to his credit. “I’m not looking for YouTube sensations or Vine or Facebook likes. I want raw talent that I can use my 22 years of experience to develop. Music Xray provides that platform.”

Music Xray helps expert ears like Jeff’s find that needle in the music haystack, that song that speaks loudly of potential. With features that allow professionals to review, sort, and respond to tracks and submissions efficiently, with analytics flagging cool songs that pass muster with other industry pros and match certain sonic patterns, the site points out tracks that might fit a professional user’s needs. Music Xray has over 210,000 artist accounts and has filtered about 1.8 million songs. It has facilitated more than 10,000 songs being selected for opportunities, from ad placement to production deals.

These tools helped Blue find Riot Child, one of his most recent projects. This discovery led to involved relationship that honed the band’s powers. “We wrote and recorded dozens of songs. We changed band members, we changed the name, but we never changed the drive and artistic integrity,” says Blue of the hard-working, all-woman band. “We finally created the sound that was believable, unique and authentic to them. The band then received a residency at Universal Studios Hollywood, red carpet events, radio and magazine interviews, thousand-seat shows, and now major management and labels are asking for showcases.”

Bands that Jeff Blue took from Music Xray to major deals:

Emphatic

Emphatic was discovered on Music Xray after Blue listened to the songs they had submitted on the site. With his help, a few sold out thousand-seaters and three and a half months later, Emphatic had several record deals on the table. They ended up signing with Atlantic Records and Warner Chappell Publishing. The first album was produced with Howard Benson (Kelly Clarkson, My Chemical Romance, Seether, Three Doors Down) and mixed by Chris Lord Alge (multi-Grammy winner). Emphatic is now signed with Sony and has had three Top 10 rock radio hits so far.

WERM

WERM tried unsuccessfully for months to strike a deal with major labels on their own. It wasn’t until Jeff Blue found them on Music Xray that their luck changed. After a few months, WERM secured a deal with Universal Republic and produced with Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Korn). WERM is on tour now, and has toured with the likes of 30 Seconds to Mars.

The Holding

The Holding was also discovered on Music Xray by Blue. Just three months later the group had offers from Universal Republic and Mercury Island Def Jam. They signed with IDJ. Tim Pagnotta (Neon Trees, Walk the Moon) and Blue produced the album.

About Music Xray

Music Xray is the vision of musician and entrepreneur Mike McCready, the co-founder and CEO of Polyphonic HMI, a company that launched a technology in the mid-2000s called Hit Song Science, profiled by Malcolm Gladwell and a bevy of other media for its innovative approach to song analysis. The company became the subject of a Harvard Business School case study, which remains one of the most popular case studies taught at business schools around the world.

For this more recent venture, McCready saw that the industry needed more than one way to find the needles in the growing haystack of recorded music, with 90% accuracy. The platform unites approximately 80,000 music industry professionals (music supervisors, A&R execs, managers), 200,000 artists, and 200,000 fans to identify and connect new music with those who need it, to the benefit of all. Around 1000 songs and performers a month are selected for a wide variety of opportunities via the site.