A&R Intern – Hip-Hop, Pop, R&B Scouting

Job Description

A&R Intern | UTC Records

The Tone:
This is an unpaid, remote internship at UTC Records, eligible for college credit. UTC Records is a new record label based in Los Angeles, founded by industry leaders in artist management, digital marketing, and A&R, with a mission to support the best up-and-coming artists globally across all genres and cultures. The company aims to be a partner that artists at any stage can rely on. This role is for a music-obsessed tastemaker focused on discovering emerging hip-hop, pop, and R&B adjacent artists in California, particularly within Southern California (Los Angeles metropolitan area, Inland Empire, Orange County, and San Diego). As an A&R Intern, you will work directly with the executive team to identify standout local talent, understanding the business of music from an inside perspective and directly shaping who the company collaborates with.

The TL;DR
• Role: Internship
• Type: Unpaid Internship
• Location: Remote

• Team: Works directly with the executive team and A&R team; collaborates with social media and creative-director interns.
• Mission: Find the best up-and-coming hip-hop, pop, and R&B adjacent artists based in California, especially Southern California, to connect and collaborate with directly.
• Tech Stack: TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, Chartmetric, spreadsheets, databases, digital research tools.

What You’ll Actually Do
• Scout California Talent: Discover and evaluate emerging hip-hop, pop, and R&B adjacent artists specifically based in California, with a strong focus on Southern California regions such as the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the Inland Empire, Orange County, and San Diego, utilizing platforms like TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, and Instagram.
• Identify Future Stars: Find a combination of released music that is quietly building a real core fanbase and growing consistently over time, alongside brand-new, unreleased tracks that are on the verge of going viral, specifically noticing artists with consistently high engagement who are yet to break massively.
• Track Performance Data: Monitor key artist metrics including monthly listeners, social growth, engagement rates, playlist support, and UGC activity, then build and maintain comprehensive artist prospecting databases.
• Report and Present Findings: Compile weekly scouting reports and detailed artist evaluations, subsequently presenting your findings and recommendations directly to the A&R team.
• Confirm Local Accessibility: Verify that the artists you surface are genuinely California-based and accessible for in-person collaboration, and support direct outreach to artists, managers, and industry contacts to bring the right local talent to the team.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Current college student eligible for school credit, possessing a deep understanding of the California hip-hop, pop, and R&B music landscape, including its artists, scenes, and emerging trends, and a strong fascination for the business aspects of music.
• Experience: Proven ability as a talent scout, identifying artists before they gain widespread recognition, spotting unreleased music poised for success, recognizing artists with consistently high engagement prior to their breakthrough, and able to cite examples of early discoveries.
• Skills: Data literacy for interpreting streaming and social metrics; strong research and organizational abilities; professional communication skills for engaging directly with artists and their teams; and the capacity to work independently, maintain organization, and handle confidential information with discretion.
• Bonus: Prior music industry experience, such as running fan pages, playlists, or music blogs; or familiarity with spreadsheets, databases, and other digital research tools.