Drowned in Sound

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 education that comes from working in record shops and becomes a wide-ranging conversation about how music communities form, fracture, and sometimes regenerate. Moving across North Wales to London basements, from pressing white labels by hand to playing for 75,000 people with Depeche Mode, Kelly Lee Owens traces a path through all corners of music: the shops, venues, teachers, collectives, community centres, and accidental mentors that shaped her, her music, and her career.

Sean and Kelly chat about their working class roots, the discipline of DJing as storytelling, and the economics of grassroots music. Kelly Lee Owens reflects on why she now deliberately plays shows in places artists rarely go, why she sees music as a form of healing as much as entertainment and why community matters more than scale.

If there’s a thread running through it all…it’s this: music isn’t a product or a pipeline. It’s a relationship. And like any relationship, it needs time, space, and care to survive.

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.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction

02:00 - Record shops as education and community

05:05 - Obsession, discovery, and how taste is formed

10:00 - The early 2010s shift: risk, hedonism, and electronic culture

13:05 - DIY culture, SoundCloud, and pressing your own records

15:00 - Human curation vs automation and playlists

22:10 - Playing huge rooms: Depeche Mode, confidence, and scale

26:05 - Returning to small places: community shows and access

29:00 - Grassroots collapse, class, and structural inequality

32:10 - What £500 million could fix in music culture

42:05 - Music as healing, frequency, and emotional space

48:25 - The future: rebuilding value, community, and care

50:15 - Outro

Continue the Conversation: 

Head to the Drowned in Sound community to chat about the topics in this episode.

Subscribe:

Get weekly essays, interviews, and insights from the Drowned in Sound newsletter - exploring music, culture, and resistance.

Links & Resources:

Music Venue Trust — protecting grassroots venues
https://www.musicvenuetrust.com

David Byrne — How Music Works
https://davidbyrne.com/books/how-music-works

Fabric London — venue history and cultural importance
https://www.fabriclondon.com

Piccadilly Records (Manchester)
https://www.piccadillyrecords.com

Pure Groove Records (London)
https://puregroove.co.uk

Kelly Lee Owens
https://kellyleeowens.com

Stop Making Sense — Talking Heads
https://www.talkingheadsofficial.com

Cocteau Twins
https://cocteautwins.com

The Knife — Silent Shout
https://theknife.net

Warehouse Project (Manchester)
https://www.thewarehouseproject.com

Neuadd Ogwen / Bethesda community venue
https://neuaddogwen.com

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 funding might start to rebalance power (and money) back towards scenes.

There are also predictions - some cautious, some hopeful, some deliberately ridiculous. This episode tries to map the forces underneath the surface…the things that will shape what we hear, how we find it, and what it means to care about music in the first place.

The Drowned in Sound podcast is presented in partnership with Qobuz, the pioneering high-quality music streaming and download platform for music enthusiasts and audiophiles. Each week we curate playlists on Qobuz, featuring our favourite records, artists, and the themes we explore on the show.

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.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction: What will music be like in 2026?
02:30 - New bands, tipping season, and who breaks through next
06:50 - Scenes, genres, and the collapse of old categories
12:00 - Cities as culture: Leeds, Liverpool, Brighton, Beirut
16:40 - Resilience, mental health, and sustaining music ecosystems
20:40 - Grassroots levies, touring economics, and venue survival
26:00 - Ticketing, regulation, and the slow response to abuse
28:20 - AI, platforms, and the erosion of trust
30:30 - Predictions: returns, collaborations, and surprise records
35:20 - Tech futures, headphones, and augmented concerts
38:50 - Hope, uncertainty, and what comes next

Continue the Conversation: 

Head to the Drowned in Sound community to chat about the topics in this episode.

Subscribe:

Get weekly essays, interviews, and insights from the Drowned in Sound newsletter - exploring music, culture, and resistance.

Links & Resources:

FanFair Alliance - ticketing transparency and anti-touting campaigning

Music Venue Trust - grassroots venue support and levy campaigning

UK Government - ticket resale reform & consultation

Action Fraud -  advice on ticket scams and resale fraud 

Subvert - artist / label-owned music platform

Bandcamp - direct-to-fan model and editorial writing

The Jump - Shirley Manson's podcast

Vespertine - Björk's podcast

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 activists working with Brian Eno and Billie Eilish, and Brazilian artists who travelled from Belém where the performed at COP30.

From sampling frogs in the museum's Vivarium with Japanese composer Hinako Omori to learning about the UK's temperate rainforests (yes, really!), EarthSonic Live had it all.

In the first episode of 2026, you'll hear from RSPB conservationists Annabel Rushton and Roshni Parmar-Hill about why swifts are disappearing and what red squirrels tell us about biodiversity loss. Climate activist Tori Tsui shares how music became central to her campaigning. Hannah Overton from Warp Records explains more about the event.

And we meet four members of FLOW, female artists from three continents to reflect on their journey to Belém for COP30, where they turned droughts, floods, and flying rivers into hip-hop, spoken word, and song.

The Drowned in Sound podcast is presented in partnership with Qobuz, the pioneering high-quality music streaming and download platform for music enthusiasts and audiophiles. Each week we curate playlists on Qobuz, featuring our favourite records, artists, and the themes we explore on the show.

Visit drownedinsound.org/playlists to discover new music in rich Hi-Res lossless quality and start your 30-day free trial of Qobuz at qobuz.com/dis.

Continue the Conversation: Join the discussion on the Drowned in Sound forums and share your thoughts on music, nature, and climate action.

Subscribe: Get the Drowned in Sound newsletter for weekly insights into music, culture, and building a fairer industry.

Links & Resources:

Tori Tsui - Climate activist and author of "It's Not Just You: How to Navigate Eco-Anxiety and the Climate Crisis"

EarthSonic Live - Event details and future dates

Takkuuk - Inside Bicep's Arctic Masterpiece (DiS article)

Full Tori Tsui Interview - Climate justice and music with Brian Eno & Billie Eilish

RSPB - Conservation and volunteering opportunities

Wildhoarse Water - RSPB nature reserve in the Lake District with UK temperate rainforest

In Place of War - Arts organization for social change

Manchester Museum Vivarium - Home to the frogs sampled during workshops

Sohini Alam - British-Bangladeshi composer and vocalist

Keila - Brazilian singer from Gang do Eletro, FLOW artist

Bebé Salvego - Brazilian jazz vocalist, FLOW artist

Jaloo - Brazilian gender-fluid artist and producer, FLOW artist

Hinako Omori - Japanese artist and composer

Wellcome Trust - Event partner

Arts Council England - Event partner

Ableton - Event partner and workshop provider

About the Host:

Sean Adams is the founder of Drowned in Sound, an independent music publication championing underground and independent artists since 2000. Through the DiS podcast, newsletter, and community, Sean explores how to build a fairer, more sustainable music industry while supporting the artists and fans who make it meaningful.

This episode was completely self-produced by Sean Adams, recorded on location at Manchester Museum. Thanks to Shure for providing the mics to record this special episode.

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 without a lot of the same tools, protections, or paths to sustainability.

They talk about the time sink of constant content creation, the distortion of success metrics, and how discovery has become both easier and more exhausting than ever. This includes: “lean back” listening,  “lean through” fandom whilst the conversation reframes what engagement really looks like and why likes, views, and viral moments so often fail to translate into income or longevity.

As streaming platforms push endless discovery and passive consumption, the duo ask hard questions about value, ownership, and what gets lost when music is treated as content and not an integral part of culture.

The Drowned in Sound podcast is presented in partnership with Qobuz, the pioneering high-quality music streaming and download platform for music enthusiasts and audiophiles. Each week we curate playlists on Qobuz, featuring our favourite records, artists, and the themes we explore on the show.

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.

Chapters
00:00 - Why musicians are being reframed as “creators”

05:20 - The problem with monetisation, takedowns, and copyright

12:10 - Lean back, lean in, and what “lean through” really means

20:00 - Discovery, algorithms, and the illusion of reach

28:00 - Are superfans real - and what actually makes a fan?

36:10 - Scenes, culture, and what’s been lost in platformisation

44:30 - AI, ownership, and the coming copyright reckoning

52:30 - The “dark forest” internet and the return of small spaces

59:30 - What the next 25 years of music might look like

Continue the Conversation: 

Head to the Drowned in Sound community to chat about the topics in this episode.

Subscribe:

Get weekly essays, interviews, and insights from the Drowned in Sound newsletter - exploring music, culture, and resistance.

Links & Resources:

Cross Platform Success Using Social Platforms to Build Audience and Fandom

MIDiA Research

Hanna Kahlert – MIDiA Research

Spotify Loud & Clear Report

Music Publishers Begin Spotify Podcast Takedowns (Variety)

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 artists turning their backs on Spotify.

They examine how streaming payouts continue to shrink for artists, even as platforms post record profits public conversations around alternatives, and ethics (war tech?! ICE ads?! Joe Rogan?!) turned into artist boycotts. 

The biggest music stories share one consistent theme: who holds the power, and who gets to challenge it?

The Drowned in Sound podcast is presented in partnership with Qobuz, the pioneering high-quality music streaming and download platform for music enthusiasts and audiophiles. Each week we curate playlists on Qobuz, featuring our favourite records, artists, and the themes we explore on the show.

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.

 

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction

02:00 - Story #3: Was there a ‘song of the summer?

01:10 - Rage, memes, and culture reflecting the moment

03:42 - Sofia Isella and the power of feminine rage

06:20 - Nova Twins, activism, and grassroots credibility

08:32 - Mannequin Pussy and what rock should stand for

09:29 - Story #2 begins: protest movements in music

11:02 - Boycotts, divestment, and corporate accountability

13:02 - Solidarity, Ireland, Palestine, and shared histories

16:12 - Culture as a battleground

29:26 - Story #1 begins: the Spotify exodus

32:13 - Streaming power, ethics, and alternatives

36:16 - Hope, resistance, and building something better

42:22 - Outro

Continue the Conversation:

Head to the Drowned in Sound community to chat about the topics in this episode.

Subscribe:

Get weekly essays, interviews, and insights from the Drowned in Sound newsletter - exploring music, culture, and resistance.

Links & Resources:

Switched On Pop - Why the Song of the Summer Is Disappearing

No Music for Genocide – Artist Boycott Campaign

NME – Paramore & Hayley Williams Join No Music for Genocide

Resident Advisor Podcast – Sama’ Abdulhadi

Together for Palestine – Yara Eid Concert

Spotify Loud & Clear Report

Music Publishers Begin Spotify Podcast Takedowns (Variety)

Spotify Payola Lawsuit Explained (Music Business Worldwide)

Cut Off the Spigot – Streaming Economics Campaign

Mozilla Foundation – The Post-Naive Internet Era