The Hottest Independent Artists In The World: Blu DeTiger, Calynn Green, Dirty Blond, Olive Amun & Sara Kays

We’re looking at a world where scouting for new music online is the new norm. But with more than 280,000 new tracks uploaded to music streaming services each week, how can you make sure you find the good stuff?

MBW’s long-term partner Instrumental, who have been described as ‘Moneyball For Music’, have developed a ‘hot score’ that flags artists daily that are seeing exceptional performance across a range of key metrics.

This hot score algorithm tipped acts like Surfaces, Tones and I, Lil Tecca and Anson Seabra months before they went mainstream.

Now, every week, MBW will highlight five of the most exciting prospects from around the globe from within Instrumental’s current batch of ‘hot’ artists…


Blu DeTiger – Escape Room, US

2020 is proving to be a breakout year for New York DJ, Blu DeTiger, having garnered more than 10,000 new artist followers on Spotify in under four months and is currently sitting at over 370,000 followers and 4.6 million likes on TikTok.

Instrumental first flagged Blu DeTiger as ‘hot’ as early as April. Since then, she’s had 21 ‘hot’ days and her latest single is her most popular at 1.3m combined YouTube and Spotify streams. 


Calynn Green – Country Pop, US

Nashville country pop newcomer Calynn Green is present on three Spotify-Official country playlists – picking up more than 900,000 playlist followers after being flagged as ‘hot’ on Instrumental’s database for the first time earlier this month. 

Currently, his ‘hot streak’ stands at 25 days, with only one single released.

To learn more about his musical backstory, check out this self-made video bio.


Dirty Blond – Indie Anthem Folk, UK

From his base in London, Dirty Blond makes piano-based indie and has enjoyed a 279% increase in Spotify followers since he first went ‘hot’ on Instrumental’s platform at the beginning of April.

Although his discography consists solely of singles, he’s amassed 1.5 million combined streams across YouTube and Spotify, with 35,000 followers on Instagram.


Olive Amun – Hip Hop, AU

Melbourne rapper and producer Olive Amun‘s lyrics-based brand of ‘chill hop’ has helped him find a way onto one of Spotify’s most popular lofi playlists.

He’s since enjoyed a surge in popularity, leaping from 0 to 300,000 playlist followers in a month and now has 60,000 monthly listeners.

Interestingly, his streams are spread consistently across all 11 singles released in 2020, some of which have been remixed by other producers, such as synth-fi specialist, førever.

Each of the singes’ artwork is designed in a unique minimalist style, available to view on his Insta.


Sara Kays – Pop, US

Having made appearances on Spotify’s ‘Modern Soft Pop’ playlist, Instrumental flagged singer/songwriter Sara Kays as ‘hot’ at the beginning of March.

She has since seen a 184% increase in followers and has steadily built 309,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

To get a taste of Sara’s style, head to her music video for Smaller Than This, released in the style of a YouTube vlog.


Like what you see? For a limited time, Instrumental are offering a 14-day free trial for their daily Hot Artist Alerts. Click here to sign up now!Music Business Worldwide

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