Drowned in Sound

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MAY 5

Two Music Fans. One Astonishing Fan-Led Review of Live & Electronic Music

Over 4,000 music fans responded to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s Fan-Led Review into Live Music and Electronic Music and in this week's episode DiS founder Sean Adams and co-host Helena Wadia reacted to this important report that could revolutionise live music in the UK. Alongside the in-depth analysis of the state of live music and what music fans want, there's also The Fans' Charter. Much shorter than the 100-page report, the Fans' Charter has 50 recommendations that the government, the industry, and local authorities should implement, from ending ticket touting to improving late night transport and simple things like the live industry sharing timings so fans can plan their night out accordingly. We would urge you to head over here to read the fan-led review and then pop your postcode into TheyWorkForYou and WhoCanIVoteFor to gently encourage your representatives to read the report. The government have less than 2 months to respond and the more MPs, councillors, and mayors that read it, the better. Visit https://drownedinsound.org/playlists/ to hear Helena's playlist and to discover new music in rich Hi-Res lossless quality. Start your 30-day free trial of Qobuz at https://qobuz.com/dis. This episode was edited by: http://tell.studio Co-hosted by Helena Wadia, who also co-hosts the Media Storm podcast: https://mediastormpodcast.com/about-us/ Recorded at The Shure Experience Centre, London. Sign up to our newsletter at http://drownedinsound.org

May 5

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41 min
2D AGO

Ticket Touts Rejoice! DiS & Which? React to The King's Speech

"Disappointing" is the word of the week in the UK music biz, after the UK government seem to have kicked the can down the road on tackling ticket touts aka "secondary ticketing". Why? The King's Speech happened yesterday. The Keir Starmer's Labour government promised to end ticket touting. And yet... What we got was a draft bill. Buried on page 64 of a supplementary document. Not in the speech itself. Not legislation. Not a law. A draft, which means more consultations, an uncertain timeline, and the door left open for the secondary ticketing platforms to shape whatever comes next. DiS podcast host Sean Adams revisits the full sixteen-year history of this fight, from Sharon Hodgson's Private Member's Bill in 2010, through the Channel 4 Dispatches investigation, the Waterson Review, the founding of the FanFair Alliance, the Digital Economy Act, the CMA's rejected recommendations, Labour's manifesto promise, the Oasis dynamic pricing scandal, and the November 2025 announcement that made everyone think change was finally coming. Then he's rejoined by Kat Cereda, spokesperson for Which?, to dig into what a draft bill actually means, why secondary ticketing websites getting involved in shaping the legislation is exactly what campaigners feared, and what Which? does next. And at the end of the episode, Adam Webb from the FanFair Alliance gives his reaction - he's someone who has been in the trenches of this campaign since 2016. Visit https://drownedinsound.org/playlists/ to discover new music in rich Hi-Res lossless quality and start your 30-day free trial of Qobuz at https://qobuz.com/dis. Edited by: tell.studio (Phil, Louisa, Owen, Matt) Recorded at The Shure Experience Centre, London. Sign up to the DiS newsletter: http://drownedinsound.org Which? Stop Fleecing Fans campaign: https://www.which.co.uk/campaigns/stop-fleecing-fans FanFair Alliance https://fanfairalliance.org/ Music Fans Voice https://musicfansvoice.uk/ CMS Committee Fan-Led Review of Live and Electronic Music https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/378/culture-media-and-sport-committee/news/213147/ Further reading Everything you need to know about gig tickets: https://www.drownedinsound.org/gig-tickets/ Previous episodes in this series Kat Cereda (Which?) on the open letter to Keir Starmer: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-uk-government-promised-to-end-ticket-touting-so/id1037405920?i=1000764130066 Adam Webb (FanFair Alliance) on ticket resale and the FanFair campaign: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/uk-caps-ticket-resale-at-face-value-what-took-so-long/id1037405920?i=1000737461606

2d ago

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40 min
02/04/2024

Why Music Journalism Matters

The Quietus' John Doran reflects on the demise of Pitchfork and whether music journalism is now destined to be a hobby or can writing/thinking/talking about music thrive in a reader-funded era? DiS020 | S2: The Future of the Music Press EP12 In his widely-shared piece for The Guardian, this episode's guest John Doran, co-founder of the esteemed music publication The Quietus, wrote about the importance of music criticism: "I think a good analogy for writing about music is like composing poetry about the weather. You could spend an entire lifetime writing verse about thunderheads and tornadoes and not come within a mile of creating something that was as literally sublime, but once in a while the writer will connect with the rhythms, the flash of lightning, the spatter of rain, and if they are really focused they will discover entirely new rhythms and be inspired to write something unique." Beyond the beauty and power of words, this discussion with Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams covers a lot of ground including: how Fela Kuti widened John's horizons and inspired a Guardian column that saw him taking a trip to Cairo to discover the emerging music scenes in Egypt Sophie's impact on artists like Charli XCX Poptimism and the domination of Taylor Swift what it signifies for counterculture when James Blake plays at Chanel parties the 'industry plant' nonsense surrounding the brilliant Last Dinner Party the impact of search engine optimisation on what the music press commissions a bit about the intersection of entertainment reporting with music writing We also delve into the essence of why music journalism matters As with the rest of this season, the conversation also looks ahead to what the future holds, and whether there will be enough voice like Neil Kulkarni's (RIP). Key Timings 03:40 Exploring the Definition of Journalism 16:38 The Impact of Populism on Music Journalism 29:01 Exploring Music from Different Parts of the World 47:08 The Interconnectedness of Music Scenes 48:49 The Influence of Algorithms on Music Discovery 01:07:19 The Importance of Diverse Voices in Music Journalism About The Guest John Doran is the co-founder of award-winning website The Quietus. He has written for a range of publications including Bang!, The Guardian, NME, BBC, Vice, The Wire, Metal Hammer and more. His "misery memoir" Jolly Lad is out now. You can hear his BBC Radio 4 series New Weird Britain on BBC Sounds. Watch his British Masters series for Noisey on YouTube here. You can find him on Twitter @JahDuran. About The Host Sean Adams founded Drowned in Sound, which recently relaunched as a weekly newsletter here. Alongside hosting, he does all the production on this solo project podcast and wrote a little more about the process here. You'll find him on all social media platforms as @seaninsound.

02/04/2024

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1h 18m
APR 28

The UK government promised to end ticket touting. So why hasn't it?

Before the UK's general election, Labour's 2024 manifesto promised to "put fans back at the heart of events" by ending ticket touting. Then, when in power, the Labour government made confirmed the plan in November 2025. And yet here we are in April 2026, with no legislation, and reports that the Ticketing Bill may not even appear in the King's Speech on 13 May. But what we do have is the fan-led review of live music, urging the government to enact this change. This is the first episode of a new series on power and double standards in music - who has it, how it works, and what fans can actually do both individually and collectively to change things. To kick things off, DiS founder Sean Adams and co-host Helena Wadia are joined by Kat Cereda, spokesperson for Which?, to dig into the consumer rights organisation's open letter calling on Keir Starmer to include a Ticketing Bill in the King's Speech and cap ticket resales at face value. The coalition of signatories is striking: AEG Presents, the Featured Artists Coalition, ATC Management (Nick Cave, Radiohead), Wildlife Entertainment (Arctic Monkeys, Fontaines DC), Grumpy Old Management (Ed Sheeran), the Music Venue Trust, Live Nation, Ticketmaster and more - united in calling on the government to deliver on its manifesto commitment before the window closes. They cover: Why Which?, who are perhaps best known for testing washing machines, is exactly the right organisation to lead this fight How secondary ticketing has grown from "the old man in a trenchcoat outside the venue" to international criminal operations with links to Dubai and Delaware The numbers: resellers stand to make an estimated £24 million from fans this summer alone; a Harry Styles ticket at £200 face value listed at £3,622; an Ariana Grande ticket at £135 listed at £2,835; a BTS ticket at £450 listed at £4,872 that's a whopping 312% markup; and a Raye ticket at All Points East listed on Viagogo at £140,000 Speculative selling: listing tickets touts don't even own yet How fans could save £112 million a year if a price cap were introduced. This is the government's own figure! Why the King's Speech on 13th May is the only real accountability test, and what it means if the bill isn't in it The CMS Committee's independent fan-led review, published just this month, which calls on the government to act "without delay" (more on that next week) What 91% of over 8,000 Music Fans Voice survey respondents agree on Platforms like Twickets and Dice that are already doing it right What you can do right now to keep the pressure on Visit https://drownedinsound.org/playlists/ to discover new music in rich Hi-Res lossless quality and start your 30-day free trial of Qobuz at https://qobuz.com/dis. This episode was edited by: http://tell.studio Which? Stop Fleecing Fans campaign: https://www.which.co.uk/campaigns/stop-fleecing-fans Open letter to the Prime Minister (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/posts/which_open-letter-to-the-prime-minister-activity-7453362314151469056-LwME Which? on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXgfoKVFrtA/ Co-hosted by Helena Wadia, who also co-hosts the Media Storm podcast: https://mediastormpodcast.com/about-us/ Further reading CMS Committee Fan-Led Review of Live and Electronic Music (April 2026): https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/378/culture-media-and-sport-committee/news/213147/calls-for-new-music-fan-association-to-boost-fan-involvement-as-review-publishes-charter-to-safeguard-live-music-sector/ Previous episode Adam Webb (FanFair Alliance) on ticket resale and the FanFair Alliance's campaign: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/uk-caps-ticket-resale-at-face-value-what-took-so-long/id1037405920?i=1000737461606 Recorded at The Shure Experience Centre, London. Sign up to our newsletter at http://drownedinsound.org

Apr 28

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34 min
APR 22

Movements & Music - Introducing Sounds Like Change

Drowned in Sound is thrilled to reveal the first series in our new podcast network, with more shows to be announced soon. Hosted by music and social change expert, start-up founder, and campaign organiser Ariana Alexander-Sefre, Sounds Like Change brings together artists, thinkers, and changemakers to explore the profound role music plays in shaping our mental health, identities, and collective futures. The podcast manages to merge a fresh perspective on activism with an len through which we clearly can see music as a cultural force with the power to shift how we feel, relate, and act in a society that has left so many of us feeling hopeless Each episode starts with a song of hope chosen by the guest, then moves from personal stories to wider societal questions, and ultimately toward imagining better futures. Conversations are interwoven with moments of sound and reflection, creating space to feel and process. In this edition of the Drowned in Sound podcast, we introduce you to Ariana and share a taste of the pilot episode, with Drowned in Sound founder and our podcast host, Sean Adams, talking about the role artists like Dead Prez and David Bowie played in his political awakening. Ahead of the first episode, you can now subscribe to Sounds Like Change on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Give the show a follow on Instagram here. To contact the show or pitch ideas please email podcasts@drownedinsound.org. This week's playlist + Qobuz free trial. Visit https://drownedinsound.org/playlists/ to hear Sean's political awakenings playlist and discover new music in rich Hi-Res lossless quality. Start your 30-day free trial of Qobuz at https://qobuz.com/dis. Edited by: tell.studio (Phil, Louisa, Owen, Matt)

Apr 22

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22 min
07/13/2025

Mary Spender - Why Now Is Actually The Greatest Time for Independent Musicians

While most music industry coverage focuses on (poly)crisis and collapse, Mary Spender argues we're living through the greatest era for independent artists in history. But, but but... what about streaming economics, venue closures, and platform dependence? Don't worry, we get into it. With over 100 million YouTube views, 34,000 newsletter subscribers, and significant album sales achieved before releasing a single track to streaming, Mary demonstrates there are viable alternatives to industry doom-spiralling. In this conversation, she reveals her strategies for converting YouTube viewers into album buyers, why artists need to think like entrepreneurs, and what she'd build with Spotify's $400 million Joe Rogan budget. Sean also asks her about her recent video about why artists should embrace YouTube. Speaking of which, you will be able to see clips from this interview over on Drowned in Sound's YouTube: youtube.com/@DrownedinSound Edited by: Josh Craggs at Dubble Audio Timestamps 00:00 Sean's Intro 03:21 What will music be like in 2050? 06:25 Why artists should think like entrepreneurs 12:45 What does the future hold for independent artists? 16:56 The 1000 true fan theory 18:51 Should YouTube be the #1 platform for musicians? 24:36 Researching with an open mind. A rare skillset? 29:45 How to convert an audience from YouTube 34:17 What can the UK government do for music? 36:35 How would Mary spend the $400 million Spotify paid Joe Rogan? 38:39 Is long-form content on the return? 43:29 Sean's Outro Quotable Moments "Technically it's never been a better time to be a musician than today, even though everyone likes to talk about the heyday. But that was for a very lucky few." "If you don't have the grassroots, you don't have the artists in Wembley Stadium. Like you don't have that trajectory." Continue the Conversation📧 Email sean@drownedinsound.org with your questions for future episodes🌐 Join the Drowned in Sound Community📰 Subscribe to the Drowned in Sound newsletter Guest Links Mary Spender's YouTube Channel Mary's website and newsletter The Dire Straits Documentary on Nebula Referenced in Episode Kevin Kelly's "1000 True Fans" essay About the Host: Sean Adams is the founder of Drowned in Sound (est. 2000), manages artists including Charlotte Church and The Anchoress, and has worked with BBC 6 Music. Through this podcast, he maps the future of music by exploring culture, politics, and the systems shaping how we create and consume music. At its peak, Drowned in Sound had over 3 million readers. Stay tuned for details about its 25th anniversary celebrations.

07/13/2025

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47 min
04/12/2025

Synths, Sound & Music’s Future with Martyn Ware (The Human League / Heaven 17 / BEF / Electronically Yours podcast)

What did the future sound like when the synthesizer first arrived? What does it feel like now, with AI looming and immersive audio spaces on the rise? In this special episode of the Drowned in Sound Podcast, recorded at Tallinn Music Week, Sean Adams speaks with Martyn Ware — founder of The Human League and Heaven 17, producer for acts ranging from Tina Turner to Erasure, and creator of some of the UK’s most ambitious sound installations. This is a conversation about optimism and dystopia, about punk and purpose, and about how DIY culture in Sheffield shaped a career that’s still future-facing today. Martyn also reflects on his podcast Electronically Yours, the legacy of sound, and how creative freedom can reshape confidence, community, and cultural memory. Timestamps & Topics: 01:32 – Synths, Sheffield, and starting out 07:00 – Curiosity and creative confidence 10:00 – From charts to immersive installations 14:30 – Podcasting and preserving legacy 20:00 – What would a Martyn Ware bar sound like? 25:00 – Optimism, memory, and what comes next Further Listening & Resources: 🎙️ Electronically Yours podcast 🔊 Illustrious Company (immersive audio) 🧠 Sounds of Our Shores installation Stay Connected: 🗣 Drowned in Sound Community 📩 Email Sean → sean@drownedinsound.org 🔵 Follow Sean on Bluesky 📰 Subscribe to the DiS Newsletter About the Guest: Martyn Ware is a pioneering British musician, producer, and sound artist. As a founding member of The Human League and Heaven 17, and co-founder of British Electric Foundation, he helped define the sound of synth-pop while pushing boundaries in spatial audio, immersive installations, and political music-making. He also hosts the acclaimed podcast Electronically Yours. About the Host: Sean Adams turned his passion for music into Drowned in Sound, a UK-based music platform that launched in 2000. He also manages artists like Charlotte Church and The Anchoress, and works across strategic communications in the music and creative sectors.

04/12/2025

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31 min
02/27/2024

What is the function of record reviews in 2024?

Elijah is a profound thinker and this conversations draws on his influential grime nights with Stormzy & Skepta, writing about music, DJing and to his Yellow Square instagram posts, which are a form of community-building journalism that act as prods and prompts that agitate thoughts into focus. DiS021 | S2: The Future of the Music Press EP13 From his experience as a pirate radio DJ to running Butterz label & clubnights to being a musician and artist manager, Elijah considers yellow squares to be a former of journalism and the conversation explores the ecosystem that feeds into it and swirls around it. In this conversation with Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams, we discuss mediums and spaces, online platforms and club cultures. The conversation sways from curation as a form of journalism, the YouTube mindset, Twitter, 10 minute or 10 hour radio shows. We also try to deconstruct the gatekeeper and the creative challenges facing people working in music, journalism and anything that involves publishing online. We also discuss the joy of Tumblr, yow electronic music in the UK clusters around its pirate radio, BBC media structures, and why not all clubs closing is a bad thing. Quotes out of context: “What’s the musical equivalent of a community note?” “Some people say ‘I don’t make any money’. Well, what do you sell?” “Imagine if a review is all the possibilities that the album lays down” “It's one bit of work. With all these different mediums, but it’s just the language hasn't adjusted to, to serve that yet, you know what I'm saying?” “…there's a hundred thousand, ten thousand histories happening at once. And that's like something that music journalism, the box, cannot fully capture.” “People just think, ‘oh, that's their job to write about music.’ And it's like, no, their job is to sell advertising space wrapped around the coverage of music. That's what magazines have been historically. Right?” Links Eli1ah on Instagram Various links: https://linktr.ee/Eli1ah YouTube recommendation: Super Eyepatch Wolf YouTube recommendation: Nathan Zed Make The Ting album Eli1ah's Resident Advisor Takeover Further reading: "Close The App, Make The Ting": Elijah's Yellow Squares are making a difference by cutting through the noise (DMY) Podcast referenced with Bandcamp founder Please note, this conversation took place in November 2023. If you're enjoying this podcast, please sign up and support our new newsletter at DrownedinSound.org.

02/27/2024

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1h 3m
02/22/2023

DiS005: How music can embrace the power of AI with ChatGPT expert David Boyle

“If you start out and it doesn't do something that you're very impressed by, your assumption should be that your prompt wasn't very good,” this summarises the advice from music industry veteran David Boyle, who specialises in understanding audiences, and over the last few months has become an expert in using ChatGPT (if you've not already, give it a go here). So much so he's co-written a book called PROMPT about, you guessed it, writing prompts to get artificial intelligence to give you better answers. This conversation is aimed at musicians and people who work in the music industry, but the takeaways should be fairly obvious whatever you're trying to achieve. Our host, Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams, shares some of the ways he's been using ChatGPT to get movie recommendations based on the songs that are on the soundtrack and using it to better understand the complex legalese in a contract. This conversation has also inspired David and his team to write a new edit of PROMPT for musicians, taking in some of the elements and workflows we discussed. Drowned in Sound listeners can grab it at a special rate using this link. We hope you will find the practical examples and advice in this episode useful, and we would love to see screenshots or hear about how you've used it. Tweet @seaninsound and @beglen if you get chance. Actually, a sneaky tip, there's also a Twitter bot that you can send Qs to here. Related Links the Hannah Peel tweet that inspired this episode. the Nick Cave blog post about ChatGPT. here's MidJourney, the AI image generator that's mentioned in this episode. this is where you can sign up to the Drowned in Sound newsletter on Substack. Water & Music have just released an interesting deep dive into AI and music - summed up in this Twitter thread

02/22/2023

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54 min
11/07/2023

Has music become a sub-genre of internet culture?

NBC News' tech and culture reporter Kat Tenbarge has her finger firmly on the pulse of internet culture and the influencer economy. She honed her expertise at Insider through investigative forays into the complexities of digital fame. Her coverage is much more than product launches and squillion dollar deals, and touches upon MeToo, fandoms, exploring how internet mobs chill free speech, and so much more. In this episode, we explore what the music press can learn from technology journalism. Related links Read Kat's reporting on NBC here. Q&A about how Kat reported on the David Dobrik allegations for Insider Kat's piece about Angelina Jolie and Amber Heard Find Kat and her tweets about Evan Rachel Wood and others cases against Marilyn Manson here Reporting: 'Free Britney' organizers and influencers took over a bar, threw a drag brunch, and blasted Britney Spears in a weekend devoted to the pop star Follow Kat on Threads here Reporting: How Tory Lanez trial bloggers are shaping the conversation around Megan Thee Stallion Also mentioned on this podcast was the defunding Check My Ads and Stop Funding Hate Podcast recommendation: Offline by Crooked Media Episode Highlights: "The Influencer Economy": Sean and Kat unravel the fabric of online influence, pondering its implications on cultural consumption and the MeToo movement's resonance within this sphere. "Music and Memes": They delve into the curious interplay of internet culture and the music industry, where virality can be both a career catalyst and a capricious whirlwind. "Ethics in the Age of Exposure": The conversation takes a contemplative turn, probing the moral compass guiding journalists amidst the relentless glare of the digital age. "The Future of Influence": Kat shares her prognostications on the influencer culture's trajectory, contemplating its impact on the internet's burgeoning denizens. This podcast was produced, researched, and hosted by Sean Adams (@seaninsound), the founder of Drowned in Sound website (est. 2000). For more deep dives into cultural currents and explorations of the musical zeitgeist, tune in and subscribe to DiS' Substack. Quotes from this episode: “I’m telling the story of our downfall as it's happening” on reporting on the downfall of the media “Honestly, one of the most, like, mind bending things to watch someone like say to the public what they do and then have those people turn around and be like, he could never do this.” On Marilyn Manson “I think that reporting that takes a point of view is actually going to be what is successful” “This is a period that's going to redefine the next few centuries. "The way that technology has evolved in the past 15 years. is going to change the rest of history. It already has” “I worked at News websites that were dominated by the clicks and the traffic. And I recognized that in order to get people to click on something, there had to be conflict. This is how all storytelling, whether it's fiction or non fiction, works. You have to have conflict. There has to be a narrative. Um, if you're telling a story about a new product being launched, no one's going to click on that unless There's some element of this product launched and it's offensive “

11/07/2023

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59 min

Established in the year 2000, as a publication, community and now podcast network, Drowned in Sound has always advocated for a better future. DiS is in the crossfade between systemic change and the deep impact music has on our lives and cultures. It's that feeling of the power of music on the Monday morning on the way home from Glastonbury but all year round.

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