Opportunity scout

What it is

Finding who to contact is the slow part of getting an artist booked, signed, placed or covered. The scout does that part. On Leads, press Find opportunities, say which artist, what you are after, where and when, and add any constraints in your own words. A few minutes later a Suggested column appears on the board.

Each suggestion is one company: a venue, a festival, a booking agency, a studio, a label, a supervisor, a magazine or a brand. Open it to see why it fits, how the artist is already connected to it through people on Aden, the contact channels that were actually found published, the pages that back it up, and a drafted first message with the artist's press kit link.

Add lead turns it into an ordinary lead in New, with the person on it, the evidence in the notes, the draft on the timeline and a follow-up dated tomorrow, so it shows up on your follow-ups the next morning. A shows brief on an organisation also opens a show prospect on Prospecting; a sync brief also opens a card on the sync board. Skip keeps that target from coming back for the same brief.

Switch on Every week and the brief runs again by itself until you switch it off. Earlier briefs stay listed in the sheet with what they produced, so you can run one again or stop it.

With a Gmail inbox connected, a suggestion also says when you last emailed that company. Each draft carries a score out of 100 with what to fix.

Nothing is contacted. The scout finds and drafts; you send.

Writing a good brief

• Where is what the scout searches around. A country, a city or a region.
• When goes into the drafts as the ask. Leave it empty for "any time".
• Constraints are read as instructions. Capacity, fee floor, which genres to lean on, who not to contact.