Two-time Grammy winner Pete Ganbarg recently detailed the intense, instinct-driven A&R meetings led by music mogul Clive Davis during his tenure at Arista and J/RCA Records. the account highlights an era where musical quality, rather than digital algorithms, dictated the success of global icons like Whitney Houston and Santana.

The 10 a.m. to midnight marathon of instinct

Clive Davis's A&R meetings at Arista and J/RCA Records were famously unpredictable and deeply immersive. As Ganbarg reported, these sessions were never formally schdeuled; instead, a call might arrive at 9:30 a.m. demanding a meeting by 10 a.m., or even requiring the team to convene immediately. These marathon sessions often stretched from 10 a.m. until midnight, with music playing continuously throughout the day.

The process prioritized raw musicality over the data-driven trends that dominate the modern industry. While today's labels often look to TikTok virality to guide their decisions, Davis focused on the music itself. To stay ahead of the curve, Davis maintained a relentless listening schedule, often receiving a weekly cassette of new songs compiled by his assistant to ensure he was constantly absorbing new talent.

The high stakes of a "number eight" hit

The talent scouting process at Arista and J/RCA relied on a rigid, numerical scoring system to evaluate new material. according to the report, the team used a scale from 0 to 10 to grade songs: a six was considered a pass, a seven meant the song was an album cut, and an eight signaled a guaranteed hit. Reaching an "eight" was a rare feat that required absolute conviction from the A&R team.

This precision was so vital that some executives would attempt to use hyper-specific decimals, such as 7.97275, to avoid the professional commitment of calling a song an eight. however, certain tracks made the decision effortless. when Whitney Houston's "My Love Is Your Love" and "It's Not Right but It's Okay" were played, the team reportedly bypassed the hesitation, immediately awarding the songs eights and nines.

Baseball-style hand signals and the song folder system

To maintain objectivity during sessions where artists were present, the A&R team developed a silent, baseball-like system of hand signals. This allowed the team to communicate their scores to Davis without influencing the artist's perception. For instance, placing three fingers on one's cheek was a coded way to signal a score of seven (calculated as 10 minus 3), a nuance that Davis could interpret instantly.

Before the era of MP3s, the team also utilized a physical "song folder" system to organize potential hits. Publishers and songwriters would submit tracks for major artists like Aretha Franklin or the winners of American Idol. Each CD was wrapped in a lyric sheet and placed in a dedicated folder for the specific artist, allowing the team to listen collectively and provide structured feedback to Davis.

Can human instinct compee with TikTok's virality?

The legacy of Davis's predictive power remains a point of comparison for the modern , algorithm-heavy music landscape. Ganbarg recalled how Davis accurately predicted that Sarah McLachlan's 1997 album Surfacing would sell between 6 and 7 million copies; the album ultimately surpassed that estimate by reaching 8 million sales.. This ability to "will" success into existence through intuition is a hallmark of the Davis era.

However, the shift toward digital metrics leaves several questions for the future of artist development. It remains unverified whether a human-centric model can still produce massive , long-term superstars in a market saturated by short-form video trends. Furthermore, as the industry moves further away from the "song folder" rigor, it is unclear if the deep, instinctual A&R expertise seen at Arista can ever truly be replicated by data science.