Surfacing music's power for change.
TL;DR Version
We believe that music is upstream from politics. It catalyses change, forges movements, helps music fans discover their collective power, and gives resistance its soundtrack.
Since the year 2000 we've been trusted to bring life-changing music into the lives of music fans around the world. Our desire, as humans, to connect and recommend music is only possible with a functioning music ecosystem and we see our mission-driven reporting as ensuring that infrastructure not just sustains by thrives and evolves.
We believe that future generations, whatever their background, will be able to build worlds out of melodies and universes from sound if we focus our efforts into exposing the problems alongside solutions.
What We Do
- We champion music. We’re music-obsessed human beings you can trust, recommending records you’ll love and artists before they crossover. Plus we celebrate so-called “challenging” acts that the algorithmic slop machine never would.
- We investigate systems with solutions-focussed journalism. For instance, exposing how streaming, live music and inequality is linked to patterns of power imbalance, injustice, and extraction-purely-for-profit across the globe.
- We build public infrastructure. Turning journalism into guides, resources, campaigns, and tools that help musicians collectivise and communities organise. We're deeply inspired by the Public Interest media movement.
- We amplify voices. Hosting conversations with musicians and change-makers, showing what’s possible and that a better world is within our grasp.
- We believe all music is local to someone and otherworldly to others. In an era of Americanized coverage of the top 0.01% of megastars, we aim to celebrate global scenes and connect artists across borders.
DiS is…
- That hopeful vision in your mind’s eye the Monday morning after Glastonbury.
- The goosebumps you got when you first heard Björk, Billie Eilish, Aurora, ANOHNI or Brian Eno speak about the environment in ways that felt far too close to home and made global change feel urgent.
- It's that realisation that your speakers were distorting when you turned Rage Against The Machine beyond eleven.
- It's that moment you truly understood what Dead Prez, Kathleen Hanna or Kendrick Lamar meant about injustice.
- It’s not just believing that a new world is possible, it’s working together to make it real.
- It's also a place that provides the lush ear candy for when the world feels too much and you just want to bunker down with Grouper or Sigur Rós
All of this and so much more echoes in everything that we do to amplify extraordinary records, represent fans, and empower artists.
We know that music journalism - from the act of recommending brain-capsizing records and heart-healing songs to the more serious side of it, reporting on systemic unfairness - requires diligence, rigour, eloquence, and passion. And we won’t wield our pen, tongue or camera carelessly or needlessly in a time when your attention is precious.
We exist to make sure exceptional music has a way to find you, the overwhelmed music fan, in a way that doesn't need some corporate algorithm. And we aim to ensure that music, from its grassroots to the GOATS, is treated with respect.
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FREE ALL-ACCESS PASSGet Involved
1. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
2. Tune into our podcast for hopeful, future-facing conversations with extraordinary musicians, cultural innovators, and organisers reshaping the music ecosystem. Search for “Drowned in Sound” on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
3. Watch us on YouTube for video versions of our podcast and much more. Subscribe here.
4. Join our community to find belonging with fellow music lovers whilst building solidarity, connection, and a fairer future for music together. Head over here to enter the chat.
A Brief History
Back in the year 2000, Drowned in Sound (or DiS as it is affectionately known) became an outlet for opinions about music. The website launched with a range of editorial about gnarly punk, political hip hop, euphoric alt-pop, ambient bliss, jangly indie-rock, and gloriously melancholic songs.
Alongside the editorial was - and still is! - an online community where music lovers discovered new artists and debated album-rankings deep into the night. A quarter of a century later, the forums rack up 2-3 million pageviews a month and are a true internet outpost for music fans.
DiS has grown in both notoriety and scope since those early days. Our trusted, passionate, fan-first approach for recommending music (and being a bit snarky from time to time) found an audience that peaked at 3 million readers in the late 2010s before doing an LCD Soundsystem, and going on a brief hiatus in 2019, before returning to the fray in 2023...
A lot has changed over the first quarter of the 21st century but our independent spirit has become increasingly defiant.
Today, we’re a founder-owned, reader-funded, proudly independent publication and podcast with an insightful, funny, and kind online community. We’re still fuelled by our music obsession and the belief that music not only brings our humanity into focus and provides us with resilience, but that songs can, will and do agitate for a better world. And we know a great tune can soundtrack a commute, turn a bedroom into a moshpit or become the beating drum behind the transformation of a system.
Free from billionaire owners or private equity backers, we focus on what matters: the records that move us, the artists who risk everything, the fans who make scenes thrive, and the ecosystems that bind us all.
About Our Founder
Sean Adams founded Drowned in Sound in 1998 as a newsletter, then launched as a website in 2000, and continues to guide its editorial direction, host its podcast, and more.
Over 25 years, he's built a track record for spotting future stars and launching careers, including releasing debut singles by acts like Kaiser Chiefs, Emmy The Great, and Bat for Lashes. Through his editorial, playlists, curation of live events & festival stages, and independent label, he has built a legacy of spotting future stars and launching careers beyond our editorial. Since 2000, we've championed artists before they’ve broken through from St. Vincent, Muse, Lizzo, Biffy Clyro, Bon Iver, Lambrini Girls, Foals, Laura Marling, and Kano.
DiS re-emerged as a newsletter and podcast in 2023 with a renewed mission focused on building community power through music journalism that organises rather than just entertains.
Alongside DiS he’s currently managing artists including acclaimed producer, songwriter and musician The Anchoress, as well as the global star Charlotte Church. He also co-founded The Sounding with Tom Venvell, a growth consultancy and media production company for the music, wellness and social sectors.
In 2024, Sean launched the Association of Music Editors to support collective organising within music journalism, and was a driving force behind the Music Fans Voice survey that engaged 8,000 participants in industry policy discussions and helped drive the UK government to launch a fan-led review of live music.
Learn more about Sean and follow him online on LinkedIn, Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok.
The Team
As of October 2025, Drowned in Sound operates with a small team of part-time freelancers, with staff writer Emma Wilkes (Instagram | Website), podcast producer Josh Craggs (LinkedIn), and executive producer Tom Venvell (LinkedIn). The soundwave design was by SoundMirror.
Please note, we occasionally have guest contributors to our newsletter but we’re not currently able to offer work experience.
Drowned in Sound is a founder-owned, proudly independent publication and podcast with an insightful, funny, and kind online community. Become a paid subscriber to access all our articles and exclusive content.