Drowned in Sound
Type of site
Online music magazine
Available inEnglish
OwnerSilentway
Created bySean Adams
URL
drownedinsound.com

drownedinsound.org

RegistrationNo
Launched1998 (1998)
Current statusActive

Drowned in Sound, sometimes abbreviated to DiS, is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums.

History

DiS began as an email fanzine in 1998 called The Last Resort but was relaunched by founder and editor Sean Adams as Drowned in Sound in 2000.

The freelance writing team is currently spread across four continents – North America, Asia, Europe and Australasia. The site is mostly based on contributions from unpaid writers and has an integrated forum to allow for discussion and comments on interviews, news and reviews. It also includes a user-rated database of artists and bands as well as details for most live music venues (big and small) in the UK. The site has over 60,000 registered members, and gets around 470,000 unique visitors per month.

In 2006, the site launched a podcast called Drowned in Sound Radio.

In November 2007, DiS teamed up with ad-supported download site RCRDLBL.com to launch an audio and video blog, entitled "Drownload".[1]

DiS has been involved with the Summer Sundae festival since 2008, and in 2010 kicked off their 10th anniversary celebrations with a line-up headlined by the Futureheads and Frightened Rabbit. Previously, they hosted the Friday night billing of the Rising Stage as being presented in partnership with Drowned in Sound.[2]

In April 2019, Sean Adams posted on his personal Facebook page that the website will cease commissioning album reviews and features for the foreseeable future.[3]

On March 6, 2023, Sean Adams announced that Drowned in Sound would return as an "audio publication".[4]

Ownership

A percentage of DrownedinSound.com (the website) and the Drowned in Sound Recordings record label are owned by Silentway Ltd.[5]

DiS had a short-lived partnership with Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB, which ended by mutual consent in August 2008,[6] resulting in the majority of staff being laid off.[7]

Awards

On 19 March 2006, The Observer's Music Monthly ranked DrownedinSound.com 9th on its list of top 25 websites. In November 2006, it passed the 150,000 unique readers a week mark and was nominated in the Best Music Website category at the 2007 PLUG Awards and the Best Website category at the 2007 Shockwaves NME Awards.

The site and a handful of its writers received nominations at the 2006 Record of the Day awards, held in London on 21 November 2006. The site won in the category of Best Podcast and finished runner-up in the category of Best Website for the second year running.[8]

In September 2007, DiS was nominated in two categories at the annual BT Digital Music Awards for Best Music Magazine and Best Podcast (audio). In November 2007, DiS was named Best Online Music Publication at the annual Record of the Day awards.[9] In 2010, Drowned in Sound won Best Publication at the Record of the Day awards.

References

  1. ↑ "Drowned in Sound teams up with RCRDLBL.com", Music Week, 27 November 2007
  2. ↑ "More for Summer Sundae", BBC, 1 May 2008
  3. ↑ Yoo, Noah (4 April 2019). "Online Music Magazine Drowned in Sound to Shut Down". Pitchfork.
  4. ↑ Adams, Sean (6 March 2023). "Drowned in Sound is back!". Drowned In Sound. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  5. ↑ "Drowned in Sound teams up with RCRDLBL.com", Music Week, 27 October 2007
  6. ↑ Adams, Sean (18 August 2008). "Drowned in Sound Joint Venture With Bskyb Ends". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 21 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  7. ↑ "Drowned in Sound Lay Off All Staff". Recordoftheday.com. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  8. ↑ "Record of the Day Music Journalism and Pr Awrds 2006 Archived 6 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine", Record of the Day
  9. ↑ "Record of the Day Music Journalism and Pr Awrds 2007 Archived 15 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine", Record of the Day
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