Find New Music Talent on Twitter in 3 Easy Steps

Sara Mekinc

Jan 15, 2021

Twitter can be a powerful marketing and promotional channel. In 2018, the title of “most influential people on Twitter” went to two Pop stars – Liam Payne and Taylor Swift. No wonder, as some fans on Twitter are more than fans – they’re a whole movement. The #BTSArmy, #Beliebers, #Swifties, #Arianators and other fan communities are more than willing to share content from the music artists they love.

K-Pop groups are among the most popular on Twitter. According to our stats, they account for 8 out of the 10 artists who got the most Twitter likes in the last 12 months, collecting from a staggering 74M to 302M likes.

Twitter-savvy artists who spearhead their promotional efforts are an incredibly valuable asset. Labels, event organizers and festival promotors are therefore always looking to work with artists with “hype skills”. It's finding these promising artists that's the tricky part – and we’re here to help. 

Here’s what you can do to spot fresh music talent on Twitter faster:

➡️ Browse the relevant music-related hashtags.

➡️ Follow “Twitter music accounts”, profiles of influential people and media.

➡️ Use music analytics tools to easily stay on top of new talent.

Let’s get to it.

#1 Get to know the relevant music hashtags

Twitter is the creator of the hashtag, but unfortunately doesn’t let you follow hashtags the same way Instagram does. What you can do is perform a “bypass” – open Twitter on your desktop, search for the hashtags on the top right, and bookmark the results in your browser.

Search for #ArtistToFollow, #NewMusicFriday, #NewMusicAlert, #NewMusic, #NewAlbum, #MusicProducer, #NowPlaying, #unsignedhype, #unsignedartist, #indiemusician, and similar hashtags to find interesting accounts.

You can later access those hashtags from your browser and repeat the search. 

#2 Follow influential Twitter accounts

It’s the same for any industry – find the right resources and names, and you’ll stay on top of the news relatively easily.

The Twitter Music account is the obvious first step, and so are the “superstar” accounts, as they can often serve as a platform to promote up-and-coming talent.

Currently trending in the promotional department is the 80-year old R&B legend Dionne Warwick, who uses her Twitter account to learn about new trends (with hilarious results) and occasionally shines a spotlight on promising artists.    

Browse through these accounts, see who follows whom, and new ideas will pop up very soon.

Get started by following these five accounts. They cover new releases, up-and-coming artists, or simply report on interesting music industry events. 

👉 The Needle Drop, the Twitter account of music influencer Anthony Fantano.

👉 Music Crowns is a magazine dedicated to promoting fresh releases and artists. 

👉 Music writer Brendan Frederick tweets about all things music.

👉 OK-Tho is dedicated to premiering new finds, especially on the Hip Hop spectrum. 

👉 Dubbing themselves “the world’s best music blog”, Stereogum is a classic source for industry news.

#3 Use music analytics tools to stay on top of new talent more easily

Browsing through Twitter hashtags and timelines takes precious time and effort. Try a more effective approach, and find rising talent in just a few minutes with a tool such as Viberate.

Viberate is the most complete music research and analytics tool for talent discovery on the market. We cover almost every music artist in the world and measure their views, likes, streams etc. on Twitter, Spotify, Beatport, Instagram and other relevant channels. This data is then presented in a way that makes talent discovery much easier.

Our tools make talent research and evaluation simpler and more cost-effective. You can see all the world’s artists ranked in a single browsable Chart, and compare their popularity stats in one place.

Start your free trial here.