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PODCAST

Drowned in Sound

Drowned in Sound

Music is upstream from politics. Drowned in Sound investigates how the music industry shapes society and how fans, artists, and workers can organise for systemic change. Hosted by Sean Adams, we decode streaming economics, sustainable touring, climate and tech, workers’ rights, and collective solutions with musicians, researchers, and changemakers.

music music interviews

All Episodes

47:32

Can £125,000 Make a Difference to the Crisis in Live...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/03/17

The UK music industry generated £7.6 billion last year. Taylor Swift became a billionaire off the back of a tour. So why are some artists still losing money every time they play a show?That's the question at the heart of this episode, as Sean sits down with David Martin, CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), and musician and former FAC board member Roxanne de Bastion to talk about the newly launched UK Artist Touring Fund (UKAT). Applications are open now. If you are a touring artist, go to

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58:18

Why Does Electronic Music Sound Like Shoegaze? Art...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/03/10

What does it mean to lean in? Not to your career, not to the algorithm but to the act of making music itself?Polly Mackey, the artist, musician, songwriter and producer behind Art School Girlfriend, nearly walked away from releasing music altogether. Instead, she built a studio in East London, completed a Master's thesis on how electronic music can feel human, and made Lean In, her third album, out now on Fiction Records. It might be the most emotionally honest thing she's made. In this

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52:27

What If You Could Taste Music? kwes. on his "dreamy"...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/03/03

What happens when a producer and musician working with Solange, Rosie Lowe, Loyle Carner, and Kelela burns out, and a spilled glass of water shows him the way back?Kwes. (Kwesi Sey) has spent fifteen years at the centre of London's most boundary-pushing music, from working with Bobby Womack to the Rye Lane soundtrack. But after years of studio sessions and collaborations, he needed a reset. The catalyst came from his daughter: she knocked over a drink mid-drawing, shrugged it off, and carried on

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70:33

The Grassroots Pledge: Wrestling Instagram, Spotify,...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/02/24

What does it actually mean to be a grassroots music promoter in 2026?David Littlefair joins the Drowned in Sound Podcast to discuss the grassroots pledge he's made with Marrapalooza, the DIY festival in Newcastle's Ouseburn Valley - redirecting ad spend away from Meta, refusing to book artists based on follower counts, and putting money back into the local scene instead of offshore platforms. We also get into the bigger picture: why 85% of Arts Council music funding goes to opera and classical

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56:10

When Boycotts Work: Arms, Hope and Soundtracking...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/02/19

This is a conversation about what happens when artists discover their collective power.In May 2025, electronic artist Gazelle Twin withdrew from her Kings Place residency over the venue's decision to host an arms industry conference sponsored by Lockheed Martin. Eleven days later, after 1,200+ artists and fans signed an open letter, Kings Place cancelled the event. Elizabeth Bernholz (Gazelle Twin) talks about that moment and so much more. The musician meets Drowned in Sound founder to discuss

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55:54

GIRLI on Fighting Back: Activism, Safeguarding &...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/02/10

GIRLI joins the Drowned in Sound Podcast to discuss her powerful new single 'Slap on the Wrist, which is a collaboration with recent podcast guest Eliza Hatch of Cheer Up Luv, built on real anonymous survivor testimonies filmed in real locations.We also discuss the new Youth Music report "Just The Way It Is?" exposing the scale of unsafe conditions, unfair pay, and discrimination facing young people in the music industry. The stats are stark: 72% of young music industry workers have felt unsafe

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61:59

Why Hope Over Fear Trumps No Music On A Dead Planet:...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/02/03

"My brothers are 20 and they're always like 'we are so cooked.' And I'm just like no we're not. There's hope but you just gotta believe, you gotta believe in something."That quote accidentally captures Music Declares Emergency's strategic shift from awareness to action. After five years of "No Music On A Dead Planet" the Hope Over Fear campaign is building action hubs in grassroots venues - real physical spaces where fans, artists, and local communities organize around the climate crisis. In this

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41:45

Over A Million Free Tickets: Discover The Ticket...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/01/27

Many who otherwise couldn't afford a £40 show, let alone a £300 festival ticket, have accessed gigs because of a new initiative called The Ticket Bank. In this episode, DiS founder Sean Adams meets Jack from Tickets for Good and The Ticket Bank to understand how they're redistributing access to live music. From seeing empty seats at the O2 to a partnership with Barnardo's, followed by offering tickets to NHS workers, teachers, and carers, Jack explains how the infrastructure works, who it serves,

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51:26

From 500 Podcasts to Radio 1: DiS meets 101 Part Time...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/01/20

Picking up where Part 1 left off, DiS returns to its conversation with Giles Bidder. Not to talk about how musicians survive, but about how stories travel, how listeners connect and what it really takes to build a music podcast in 2026. In this second instalment, Sean Adams turns the lens on the medium itself (yes, we’ve gone meta). Drawing on nearly 600 episodes of 101 Part Time Jobs, Giles reflects on the craft of interviewing, the ethics of editing, and why the best conversations often need space

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35:49

Why Some Festival Headliners Still Need Part-Time...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/01/20

From scout-hut gigs to the economics of touring, DiS sits down with Giles Bidder - host of 101 Part Time Jobs for an unsentimental look at how creative lives are actually sustained today. In this first instalment, Sean Adams talks to one of the UK’s most quietly compelling broadcasters about the hidden labour behind music culture. Over nearly 600 episodes, Bidder has built one of the most humane music podcasts around, asking artists, writers, and comedians not about their success but about the jobs

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53:33

Kelly Lee Owens: Record Shops, Raves, and Rebuilding...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/01/13

Fresh from touring stadiums with Depeche Mode, DiS meets electronic music pioneer to discuss her past, the present, and the future of music.This is part of Drowned in Sound’s 25th anniversary series in which Sean Adams continues the anniversary series by sits down with some of our favourite acts of the past quarter century. Kelly Lee Owens is very much one of those artists, who has featured in DiS year end lists and awards and playlists since releasing her debut EP. The episode starts on the

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45:51

Our 2026 predictions: New Acts, Big comebacks, Gig...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/01/06

So what will 2026 sound like?In this episode, Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams and journalist Emma Wilkes look into their crystal balls (and the release schedules). Tips on which artists should break through and the corporate barriers they’ll need to navigate. Beyond tipping season, we explore the strange absence of shared musical moments, the growing anxiety around AI-generated music, the slow unravelling of trust in big tech platforms, and whether changes to ticketing, touring, and grassroots

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67:22

Flying Rivers, Slipknot Swifts & Musical Frogs: Take...

Drowned in Sound ·

2026/01/01

Season 5, Episode 1: What if swifts sound like Slipknot? What are flying rivers? And how do you give water a voice? This New Year special takes you backstage at EarthSonic Live, where over 3,000 people gathered at Manchester Museum to explore how music and nature sounds can help us reconnect with the planet and drive real climate action.Recorded across a single extraordinary day in November 2025, this episode captures conversations with conservationists protecting endangered species, climate

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70:45

Can music still cut through in 2026? DiS meets a...

Drowned in Sound ·

2025/12/27

What does it actually mean to be a musician in an economy built for creators and why does it feel like the workload keeps growing while the rewards shrink?In this episode of the Drowned in Sound Podcast, Sean Adams is joined by Hanna Kahlert from MIDiA Research, whose work sits at the intersection of music, platforms, and the wider creator economy. Drawing on recent research into artists’ working lives, they explore why musicians increasingly face the same pressures as YouTubers and streamers

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49:21

Spotify Boycotts, Solidarity, and Jet2 Rage: Our Top...

Drowned in Sound ·

2025/12/20

What were the big music news stories of the year? In part 1 we charted the pressures building across music’s foundations and now Part 2 turns to the systems that decide who gets paid, who gets heard, and who gets left behind.Drowned in Sound’s founder Sean Adams and music journalist Emma Wilkes count down stories #3, #2 and #1 - from the strange feeling that there wasn’t really a song of the summer at all, to solidarity protest movements filled with eloquent musicians, and the growing wave of

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37:51

The Stories of 2025 - Part 1: Megagigs, Grassroots,...

Drowned in Sound ·

2025/12/15

What were the biggest stories in music this year? No, not the releases or the hype cycles but the forces reshaping how music is made, played, toured, and valued. In Part 1 of Drowned in Sound’s Stories of the Year, Sean Adams and Emma Wilkes count down stories #5 and #4, starting with a contradiction that defined 2025: record-breaking mega-gigs and billion-pound industry headlines on one side, and a grassroots ecosystem under existential pressure on the other. They talk through the “mega gig”

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50:21

Albums of the Year: Emma Wilkes & Sean Adams Pick...

Drowned in Sound ·

2025/12/08

It’s that time again: lists, arguments, consensus (or lack of it). So.. how do we choose an ultimate “Album of the Year’?In this episode, Emma Wilkes joins Sean Adams to talk through their favourite albums of 2025. No this is not the definitive list, not the ‘right’ list, just the stuff that has stuck, been obsessed over, demanded repeat listens, or just briefly rearranged their internal wiring. They also talk openly about the collapse of monoculture, the impossibility of ‘keeping up’, and why

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52:20

How Music Fans Can Save The Planet - Tori Tsui on...

Drowned in Sound ·

2025/11/27

82% of music fans want to stop climate breakdown but only 3% know what to do. Climate activist Tori Tsui reveals how Billie Eilish, Brian Eno, and Massive Attack are building the infrastructure to turn that care into action.Recorded backstage at EarthSonic Live in Manchester, this conversation bridges the gap between wanting to help the planet and knowing how. Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams meets Tori Tsui, the climate justice activist, author of "It's Not Just You," and senior advisor to the

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55:31

UK Caps Ticket Resale at Face Value: What Took So Long?

Drowned in Sound ·

2025/11/19

The UK Government have announced a landmark decision: ticket resale above face value is to be made illegal, backed by strict limits on service fees and new enforcement powers. After decades of music fans being fleeced by industrial-scale touting, could this be the turning point?In this special episode, the FanFair Alliance’s Adam Webb (a central figure in the long-running campaign against exploitative secondary ticketing) joins Sean Adams to unpack the announcement, its implications, and what it

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57:32

What crisis?! UK Music’s CEO on our £8 billion industry

Drowned in Sound ·

2025/11/12

How can the UK music industry be both in crisis and booming? In 2024, the sector was worth a record £8 billion to the UK economy but at the same time, grassroots venues are closing, artists are struggling to tour, and AI threatens to steal musicians’ work for the profit of broligarchs.In this week’s episode, Sean Adams speaks with Tom Kiehl, CEO of UK Music, about the findings in the organisation’s brand new annual report This Is Music 2025. Together they unpack the contradictions of a sector

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79 results

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