''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".
[Drowned in Sound teams up with RCRDLBL.com]
, ''Music Week'', 27 November 2007
''DiS'' has been involved with the
Summer Sundae
Summer Sundae (also called the Summer Sundae Weekender) was an annual music festival held in Leicester, England which initially focused on indie, alternative, and local music. The festival began as a one-dayer in 2001 and grew year on year si ...
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''.
[More for Summer Sundae]
, BBC, 1 May 2008
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.
Ownership
A percentage of DrownedinSound.com (the website) and the Drowned in Sound Recordings record label are owned by Silentway Ltd.
["Drowned in Sound teams up with RCRDLBL.com", ''Music Week'', 27 October 2007]
''DiS'' had a short-lived partnership with
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
's BSkyB, which ended by mutual consent in August 2008, resulting in the majority of staff being laid off.
Awards
On 19 March 2006, ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
''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
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
and finished runner-up in the category of Best Website for the second year running.
[RECORD OF THE DAY MUSIC JOURNALISM AND PR AWRDS 2006]
", Record of the Day
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.
RECORD OF THE DAY MUSIC JOURNALISM AND PR AWRDS 2007
", Record of the Day In 2010, ''Drowned in Sound'' won Best Publication at the Record of the Day awards.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Internet properties established in 2000
Online music magazines published in the United Kingdom
British record labels