Drowned in Sound
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DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway (who manage Mick Hucknall and Brett Anderson). The site is an editorially independent music website.
History
DiS started as an email fanzine in 1998 called 'The Last Resort' but was relaunched by founder Sean Adams as Drowned in Sound in 2000. It is currently edited by Sean Adams.
The freelance writing team is currently spread across the globe, with contributors based in 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. Aside from space for comments, there are separate forums for general discussion, music related discussion and advertisements for people requiring bands or musicians. The site has over 60,000 registered members, and gets around 380,000 unique visitors per month.
In November 2007, DiS teamed up with ad-supported download site RCRDLBL.com to launch an audio and video blog, entitled "Drownload".[1]
DiS are involved in the 2008 Summer Sundae festival, with the Friday night billing of the Rising Stage being presented in partnership with Drowned in Sound.[2]
Ownership
A percentage of DrownedinSound.com (the web site) and DrownedinSound's record label are owned by Silentway Ltd., the independent management company who look after Simply Red, Stina Nordenstam and Brett Anderson.[3] Silentway continue to invest in both businesses. The remaining shares in the record label are owned by founder Sean Adams.
In October 2007, it was announced that DiS had formed a partnership with Rupert Murdoch's Sky media company.[4] This joint venture with BSkyB was named Quietus Group.
On August 18th 2008, it was announced that DiS's partnership with BSkyB had ended by mutual consent[5], making the majority of its staff redundant in the process.[6]
Awards
On March 19, 2006, The Observer Music Monthly ranked DrownedinSound.com 9th on its list of top 25 internet 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 November 21, 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.[7]
In September 2007, DiS was nominated in two categories at the annual BT Digital Music Awards - 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.[8]
Record label
In 2003 Drowned in Sound started a record label which has released recordings by:
- Adam Gnade
- Bat for Lashes
- Blood Red Shoes
- Brett Anderson
- Emily Haines
- Emmy the Great
- Jeniferever
- Kaiser Chiefs
- The Koreans
- Les Incompétents
- Martha Wainwright
- Metric
- Redjetson
- The Stills
- ThisGirl
- Youthmovies
Podcast
In 2006 the site launched a podcast called Drowned in Sound Radio. The show provides a mixture of very new music with music that hasn't yet reached the mainstream.
References
- ^ "Drowned in Sound teams up with RCRDLBL.com", Music Week, November 27, 2007
- ^ "More for Summer Sundae", BBC, 01 May 2008
- ^ "Drowned in Sound teams up with RCRDLBL.com", Music Week, 27 October 2007
- ^ DROWNED IN SOUND IN JOINT VENTURE WITH BSKYB
- ^ DROWNED IN SOUND JOINT VENTURE WITH BSKYB ENDS
- ^ DROWNED IN SOUND LAY OFF ALL STAFF
- ^ "RECORD OF THE DAY MUSIC JOURNALISM AND PR AWRDS 2006", Record of the Day
- ^ "RECORD OF THE DAY MUSIC JOURNALISM AND PR AWRDS 2007", Record of the Day