PODCAST · music
Drowned in Sound
by Drowned in Sound
This weekly podcast explores how culture, politics, and the climate crisis are reshaping music. From AI and activism to festival futures and the collapse of local scenes, we treat music as an ecosystem, not just entertainment. Guests include artists, changemakers, and organisers reimagining what music can be. Subscribe and join the conversation. Hosted by Sean Adams, founder of Drowned in Sound
Episodes
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Meet The AI Rapper Beloved By The Far-Right - Part 2
In part two of our conversation with journalists Effie Webb and Harriet Williamson, we move beyond who created Danny Bones and ask what his existence means for music itself. We discuss the irony of a far-right AI rapper borrowing from Black music, the response from musicians, and what happens…
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Meet The AI Rapper Beloved By The Far-Right - Part 1
What does it take to rack up five million YouTube views in ten months? In this case: a rapper who doesn’t exist, a political party paying thousands for AI-generated videos, and algorithms remarkably good at turning anger into attention. This week, Sean is joined by Effie Webb of the Bureau of...
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Blood Red Shoes on their 7th LP, Support Bands, Crisps and Two Decades As a Band
In this week's episode Sean sits down with Steven Ansell, the singing drummer of Blood Red Shoes. They have known each other for around twenty five years now, since Sean first saw Steven's old band Cat On Form playing to a room of skinny, topless Fugazi obsessives in Brighton. Blood Red Shoes...
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Gig Yap: Robyn, My Chemical Romance, Matt Berninger and Los Campesinos!, and Where to Stand
What's the best place to stand in the Electric Ballroom if you're under five foot five and don't fancy a six foot stranger appearing in front of you two minutes before stage time? Helena Wadia has worked this out for pretty much every venue in London, and this week's episode exists mostly so...
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From Paris Hilton to Andy Burnham: Sean & Helena's Lord Brennan Interview Debrief
Did Sean ask a member of the House of Lords whether the House of Lords should even exist? No. Did he get into proportional representation? Also no... Helena Wadia returns to co-host, and rather than a straight interview this is proper yap of an episode, with Sean thinking out loud about…
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What can music fans expect from the PM Andy Burnham era? DiS meets Lord Brennan
Four thousand, one hundred and forty four music fans responded to a single Parliamentary survey, more than any committee inquiry has recorded before. What they said, over and over, is that going to a gig isn't a transaction like any other, it's closer to a communal, sometimes quasi-religious...
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Why Your Favourite Band's Fans Might Not Be Real
There's a marketing agency that will build your band a small army of fan accounts for about a dollar per thousand views. They post the clips, they seed the captions, sometimes they write the comments underneath too. Until a Substack essay by the musician Eliza McLamb and a run of stories in…
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Gomez's Tom Gray: How to Fight Spotify in Parliament and Why One Difficult Conversation a Day Is Enough - Part 2
Spotify paid Joe Rogan over $200 million for his podcast. Then, in 2024, they did it again. Tom Gray has spent the last five years thinking about what that kind of money could do for songwriters instead and his answer at the end of this episode is fascinating. In this week's episode, DiS founder...
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How Gomez's Tom Gray Ended Up Taking On Spotify in Parliament - Part 1
How do you go from winning the Mercury Prize to writing music for a CBeebies series about a pig named Hector and a very glamorous chicken named Pru? The answer takes in a Tim Buckley obsession that lasted five years, years of touring America with bands like Frightened Rabbit, and a Brighton…
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Geoff Barrow (Portishead) Made a Film with a Sleaford Mod and Every Penny Invada Had
What do you do when everyone tells you that you can't make a film without the right connections, the right funding, the right people saying yes? If you're Geoff Barrow, you spend everything Invada Records has on proving them wrong. And the result is a fantastic watch. In this week's episode, Sean...
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Sathnam Sanghera on George Michael: Iraq, Wham!, Empire, Fandom, and The Best Hit Rate in Chart History
George Michael had the highest hit rate in the history of the US Hot 100. Nineteen entries, eight number ones. 'Last Christmas' has been covered more than four hundred times. Ten years after his death, there's been no big tribute concert, no statue, and almost no serious book about his cultural...
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Los Campesinos! Part! Two! On Class, Privilege, And The Economics Of Bands vs Solo Artists
What happens when you can no longer subsidize creativity with a second job? Part 2 of our conversation with Gareth David digs into the real cost of being a musician in 2026: visa fees, tour buses, the collapse of sync deals, and the brutal math that's turning bedroom producers into solo acts...
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You! Me! 10 Million Spotify Streams! How Much?!?!! Why Los Campesinos! Stopped Being Quiet - Part 1
What do bands actually make from ten million Spotify streams? About £32k... In Part 1 of this conversation, Gareth David from Los Campesinos! walks Helena Wadia and Sean Adams through the numbers and how he felt about Spotify's response. This radical financial transparency about streaming also…
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AI & Consent Special with Addison Rae, Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift featuring Dr Hayleigh Bosher
Helena Wadia and Sean Adams caught up with intellectual property expert Dr Hayleigh Bosher to discuss AI, Addison Rae, ICE, Taylor Swift, deep fakes, trademarks, consent, copyright, Samsung, and Dua Lipa. The episode begins with our reaction to this clip of Lambrini Girls on Channel 4, in which...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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Nobody Consented to This: How AI Is Using Artists' Music, Voices and Likenesses Without Permission
Is AI a human rights issue for musicians? And why isn't the UK government treating it like one? In Part 2 of our conversation with David Martin, CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition, we turn to the question that kept us talking long after we'd wrapped the UK Artist Touring Fund discussion: what...
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Can £125,000 Make a Difference to the Crisis in Live Music?
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...
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Why Does Electronic Music Sound Like Shoegaze? Art School Girlfriend on Lean In, positive nihilism, and making music for fun
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,...
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What If You Could Taste Music? kwes. on his "dreamy" new LP on Warp
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…
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The Grassroots Pledge: Wrestling Instagram, Spotify, and the Arts Council with promoter David Littlefair
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...
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When Boycotts Work: Arms, Hope and Soundtracking Brexit with Gazelle Twin
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+...
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GIRLI on Fighting Back: Activism, Safeguarding & Turning Rage Into a Rallying Cry
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…
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Why Hope Over Fear Trumps No Music On A Dead Planet: DiS meets PVA’s Ella Harris
"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...
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Over A Million Free Tickets: Discover The Ticket Bank's Mission
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...
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From 500 Podcasts to Radio 1: DiS meets 101 Part Time Jobs (Part 2)
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...
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Why Some Festival Headliners Still Need Part-Time Jobs (Part 1)
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...
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Kelly Lee Owens: Record Shops, Raves, and Rebuilding Music From the Ground Up
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...
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Our 2026 predictions: New Acts, Big comebacks, Gig ticket laws, and more
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…
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Flying Rivers, Slipknot Swifts & Musical Frogs: Take This Podcast For A Walk In Nature
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...
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Can music still cut through in 2026? DiS meets a leading researcher
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…
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Spotify Boycotts, Solidarity, and Jet2 Rage: Our Top 3 Moments of 2025
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...
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The Stories of 2025 - Part 1: Megagigs, Grassroots, and AI slop
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...
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Albums of the Year: Emma Wilkes & Sean Adams Pick Their Standouts
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...
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How Music Fans Can Save The Planet - Tori Tsui on Billie Eilish, Brian Eno & Fossil Fuel Treaty
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...
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UK Caps Ticket Resale at Face Value: What Took So Long?
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...
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What crisis?! UK Music’s CEO on our £8 billion industry
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...
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Was Indie Sleaze Even Real? Maxïmo Park’s ‘A Certain Trigger’ at 20
How “sleazy” was Indie Sleaze, really - and was it ever a scene that Paul Smith of Maxïmo Park recognised himself in? At a time when the air was thick with lager and leather jackets, Smith was more inspired by art-school notebooks, Robert Wyatt, and the idea that pop could be poetry. In this...
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Putting the Fans First
Live music is nothing without the fans. Generating £5.2 billion to the UK economy PA, employing over 210,000 people and building the careers of those who contribute over £4bn to the export of live music, there is no doubting the UKs reputation as the international home of live music and the...
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How to Empower Music’s Next Generation - DiSpatch from the Youth Music Awards
With 41% of grassroots community music spaces at risk of closure due to financial pressures, what does the future hold for young musicians trying to break through? And what role can the wider industry and everyday fans play in keeping these vital pathways alive? In this special DiSpatch episode…
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Music Industry Misconduct: Why The System Still Protects Abusers
In this episode of the Drowned in Sound podcast, Sean Adams and Emma Wilkes are joined by Sophie K and Yasmin from the podcast, ’On Wednesdays We Wear Black’. Together they unpack what accountability really looks like inside the music industry - and why it’s still lagging decades behind. From the...
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An ethical guide to quitting Spotify
In part two of our Drowned in Sound podcast series on the Spotify exodus, Sean Adams sits down with Alexa Speed (founder of Cut Off The Spigot), and artist Kadhja Bonet alongside returning guest Laura Burhenn (The Mynabirds) to unpack the growing backlash against Spotify and other streaming…
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Drowned in Sound is 25 today: Big lessons from the past and a new era unfurls
DiS founder Sean Adams sits down with DiS’s newest staff writer, Emma Wilkes, to mark 25 years of Drowned in Sound and what the future holds for the website, newsletter, and podcast. They reflect on Emma’s recent interview with Jeremy Corbyn as he champions grassroots venues, and turn the tables…
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Is music finally ready to confront misogyny? DiS meets CheerUpLuv
In music, abuse, harassment and discrimination is normalised whilst accountability and justice is rare, so how can change finally happen? Sign up at http://drownedinsound.org for more on this topic and our weekly newsletter. In this episode of the Drowned in Sound podcast: For the past eight…
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Is national identity in music a good thing? In conversation with Idlewild
What creates a national sound? How does Scotland run through the veins of a band like Idlewild, despite their American influences? Roddy Woomble and Rod Jones from Scottish indie stalwarts Idlewild join us to explore their new self-titled album and dig into the complexities of musical identity....
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Why it's time to quit Spotify
Have music artists finally had enough of the multi-billion dollar streaming platform? Laura Burhenn makes music as The Mynabirds and has played in the Postal Service's live band. When she learned Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invested $700 million in military AI startup Helsing, she pulled her music and...
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Protect grassroots music, save so much more. A chat with Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds
How do artists decide what to say when everything from grassroots music to the climate is in crisis? Backstage at Reading Festival, Drowned in Sound’s Sean Adams and Emma Wilkes sat down with Rou Reynolds, the frontman of Enter Shikari, one of the UK's most politically engaged bands. We discuss a...
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DiSpatch: Raging at Reading Festival - Backstage with Enter Shikari, Sofia Isella, Cliffords, and more
Is rage the soundtrack of summer 2025? Can joy exist alongside political solidarity when climate change turns fields into dust clouds? Are main stages becoming platforms for resistance? And how do grassroots venues create the community foundations that allow festivals like Reading to exist at…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
This weekly podcast explores how culture, politics, and the climate crisis are reshaping music. From AI and activism to festival futures and the collapse of local scenes, we treat music as an ecosystem, not just entertainment. Guests include artists, changemakers, and organisers reimagining what music can be. Subscribe and join the conversation. Hosted by Sean Adams, founder of Drowned in Sound
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Drowned in Sound
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Drowned in Sound have?
Drowned in Sound currently has 96 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Drowned in Sound about?
This weekly podcast explores how culture, politics, and the climate crisis are reshaping music. From AI and activism to festival futures and the collapse of local scenes, we treat music as an ecosystem, not just entertainment. Guests include artists, changemakers, and organisers reimagining what...
How often does Drowned in Sound release new episodes?
Drowned in Sound has 96 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Drowned in Sound?
You can listen to Drowned in Sound on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Drowned in Sound?
Drowned in Sound is created and hosted by Drowned in Sound.
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