Today is a big day for DiS, we're officially entering our magazine era. Yes, you read that right, we're gearing up to print 50,000 copies of SHOWNOTES, which is a new quarterly magazine that celebrates live music.
It will be available for free at 500+ music venues across the UK from November 1st 2026.
Before revealing more about the mag, I want to kick off this newsletter by saying a massive thank you to Mark Davyd, Bev Whitrick, Toni Coe-Brooker, and all of the team at Music Venue Trust for their support to launch this new magazine and believing in our vision.
If you're not familiar with Music Venue Trust, they're the charity that aims to protect, secure and improve UK Grassroots Music Venues. The magazine shares their mission and through our infectious passion for artists in essays, columns, and recommendations, the aim of this new title is to get more people to go to more gigs.
Launching a new print magazine, amid stories about music publications shuttering at a rate matched only by the closures of grassroots venues and bands cancelling tours, may seem like a surprising move but for anyone who has been locked in to the Drowned in Sound podcast, you'll know I've long thought magazines are due to have their vinyl moment. People are sick of screens and feeds curated by corporate algorithms, so a zine you can hold in your hands made by fellow music obsessives is an antidote to the world we've found ourselves in.
As the publisher of this new title, I'm thrilled to announce that SHOWNOTES is edited by award-winning writer, author, and editor Hannah Ewens (Rolling Stone, Vice, Vogue, etc).
Designing the magazine and joining the Drowned in Sound team as its new creative director is Raissa Pardini, the go-to poster designer for bands from Rolling Stones and Blur to Bikini Kill, whose other clients include Apple, Adobe, Kim Kardashian’s Skims, Nadia Lee Cohen, and the Lost Music Venues exhibition currently on display at the V&A in London.
SHOWNOTES Founding Editor Hannah Ewens says:
“Our small editorial team - which I’m really proud to say is all-female, and includes Edinburgh-based Arusa Qureshi, who specialises in hip-hop and R&B, and rock and post-punk specialist Kate Jeffrie, who runs her own print music magazine, Negativland - has done a great job of shaping the first issue in just a few weeks. Music journalism can feel static and drained of life, especially after years of rolling staff cuts and publications folding. The concept of a magazine that uses something as visceral and immediate as the live experience as the lens through which to understand and celebrate music is a perfect antidote to that.
“I believe that the dominance of short-form video and filmed content, at the expense of quality writing and print, doesn’t serve artists or fans. Being able to sit with beautifully written, intimate profiles, esoteric long-form thinking, and curious investigations still matters. SHOWNOTES will be something fans can leave with after a gig, relive the excitement through at home, and use to start planning their next show. On a personal note, I’m obsessed with print, and being able to commission my weird ideas and some of my favourite writers and photographers is a pleasure I feel blessed to indulge in again.”
I also contributed a quote to the launch press release, which says:
“For 26 years Drowned in Sound has shared our infectious passion for music. We’re really grateful that Music Venue Trust believes in our vision to make a magazine for fangirls who race to the barrier and (BBC Radio) 6 Music dads dancing in the back row of the Barrowlands. SHOWNOTES is a magazine for every music lover and, in a time of media apocalypse, where finding trusted human voices is harder than ever. Whether you’re a trad folkster or operatic metaller or both or neither, having glimpsed the first issue and knowing the plans going forward, you will find something in the magazine to pique your curiosity.
“My hope is that the editorial and recommendations will inspire fans to discover their local scenes and take day trips around the UK to check out genres of music outside of their algo-bubble. Our mission is to get more people to go to more gigs and, beyond just recommending shows, we have some projects beyond the magazine up our sleeves…”
SHOWNOTES will be available for free from November 1st across the UK. Read the full press release and learn more at http://drownedinsound.org/shownotes
For partnerships and sponsorship opportunities please contact Salli Greaves, partners@drownedinsound.org
For interviews and media enquiries, contact: media@musicvenuetrust.com