Drowned in Sound

Many who otherwise couldn't afford a £40 show, let alone a £300 festival ticket, have accessed gigs because of a new initiative called The Ticket Bank.

In this episode, DiS founder Sean Adams meets Jack from Tickets for Good and The Ticket Bank to understand how they're redistributing access to live music. From seeing empty seats at the O2 to a partnership with Barnardo's, followed by offering tickets to NHS workers, teachers, and carers, Jack explains how the infrastructure works, who it serves, and why more artists and venues need to get involved.

The conversation covers touring economics, dynamic pricing myths, and the uncomfortable reality that an industry generating billions still prices out the people who need culture most. If you're singing about inequality, why would you only perform for those who can afford it?

It’s an inspiring chat about who builds community, how change happens, and who the next generation of artists might not be without projects like this.

This podcast is brought to you in partnership with Qobuz, the ethical music streaming platform. Visit drownedinsound.org/playlists to discover new music in Hi-Res lossless quality and start your 30-day free trial at qobuz.com/dis. 

This week's companion playlist features calm, ambient music from the community's picks of the best post-classical, drone, and ambient records. Two hours of peaceful listening to help you through the fog. 

Get Involved
For artists, promoters, managers, venues: Contact Jack directly to discuss partnerships Email: [email protected] 

For eligible audiences: Register via Tickets for Good or the Ticket Bank. New events added daily around 9am.

Tickets for Good: https://ticketsforgood.co.uk

Ticket Bank: https://theticketbank.org

For everyone else:

Share this episode with musicians, venues, and local promoters

Tag artists in the comments and ask if they've heard of the Ticket Bank

Send to your MP or local council about arts access

If you know someone who might qualify, subtly share the links

Continue the Conversation
Join the Drowned in Sound community to discuss this episode http://community.drownedinsound.com 

Subscribe to the Drowned in Sound newsletter for weekly essays, interviews, and insights exploring music, culture, and collective power. http://drownedinsound.org 

Links & Resources

Tickets for Good: https://ticketsforgood.co.uk 

Ticket Bank: https://theticketbank.org 

Music Venue Trust: https://www.musicvenuetrust.com

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction: Why access to live music matters

01:20 - Empty seats at the O2: The origins of Tickets for Good

05:10 - Cost-of-living tickets and breaking industry stigma

07:00 - From Tickets for Good to the Ticket Bank

12:00 - How eligibility and verification work

16:00 - Touring economics and the dynamic pricing myth

18:15 - How artists, promoters, and managers can help

22:15 - Mental health, social prescribing, and cultural value

24:45 - What £500 million could fix

27:15 - Grassroots venues and inspiring the next generation

31:00 - How to register, donate tickets, or get involved

33:30 - Outro: Your mission

Picking up where Part 1 left off, DiS returns to its conversation with Giles Bidder. Not to talk about how musicians survive, but about how stories travel, how listeners connect and what it really takes to build a music podcast in 2026.

In this second instalment, Sean Adams turns the lens on the medium itself (yes, we’ve gone meta). Drawing on nearly 600 episodes of 101 Part Time Jobs, Giles reflects on the craft of interviewing, the ethics of editing, and why the best conversations often need space to breathe. This is less about hustle and more about care: how to hold people well, how to listen properly, and how to build trust over time.

The conversation ranges from standout episodes and “slow-burn” storytelling to what it feels like to make work that actually helps people navigate their lives. Giles speaks openly about bad bosses, fear-based workplaces, and the quiet anger that fuels his show (as well as the small, human moments that make it worthwhile).

A love for radio runs through this episode: Giles describes producing Shaun Keaveny’s Community Garden Radio as a lesson in warmth, humour, and emotional intelligence on air. From there, the pair broaden out into why podcasts have become such a powerful space for connection, especially for people stuck in boring jobs, long commutes, or lonely routines.

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 - Intro
01:30 - Standout episodes and “slow-burn” editing
03:20 - When to cut vs when to let a story breathe
05:10 - What makes a “good” episode in hindsight
07:00 - Work gaffs, embarrassment, and shared vulnerability
12:00 - Bad bosses, anger, and fear-based workplaces
14:00 - Why people are quietly quitting
18:00 - Why podcasts work on boring journeys
21:00 - Community Garden Radio and the art of warmth
22:30 - What great broadcasting feels like
24:00 - Power, responsibility, and attention
25:30 - Why trust matters more than reach
27:00 - 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.

From scout-hut gigs to the economics of touring, DiS sits down with Giles Bidder - host of 101 Part Time Jobs for an unsentimental look at how creative lives are actually sustained today.

In this first instalment, Sean Adams talks to one of the UK’s most quietly compelling broadcasters about the hidden labour behind music culture. Over nearly 600 episodes, Bidder has built one of the most humane music podcasts around, asking artists, writers, and comedians not about their success but about the jobs they’ve done to survive.

Giles explains how 101 Part Time Jobs emerged as both portfolio and refuge: a way to make sense of a patchwork career, rediscover belonging, and document how people navigate a system that rarely works in their favour. Along the way, the conversation takes in touring economics, merch, sync, class, and why even bands who play the Roundhouse still need “normal jobs.

What emerges is a stark but generous thesis: music is socially priceless and economically precarious. Until that gap closes, culture will continue to run on grit, goodwill, and vast amounts of invisible labour.

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 - Intro 

01:26 - Sitting in the “other chair”: Giles as guest, not host

04:05 - Ska/punk origins, micro-prejudices, and how scenes teach you

07:45 - Why 101 Part Time Jobs began: Universal Credit, lockdown, stability

08:55 - Human curation and introducing unknown artists

11:25 - The myth of “making it”: Roundhouse bands with day jobs

13:55 - Why meaningful art can still leave artists broke

16:10 - Music is priceless but paid in grains of pennies

18:20 - Gilla Band, Lambrini Girls, and invisible cultural impact

19:25 - Class, rent, and the radical idea of simply covering your life

20:15 - Why customer-facing jobs matter (merch, coffee shops, respect)

23:55 - Hard work, timing, and opportunity

25:20 - Standout episodes and the “slow-burn” edit

29:10 - Bad bosses, anger, and fear-based workplaces

31:55 - Power, responsibility, and attention in podcasting

44:07 - The importance of having your own project and taking the time

46:55 - 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:

101 Part Time Jobs (Giles Bidder) 

Community Garden Radio (Shaun Keaveny) 

Music Venue Trust - protecting grassroots venues 

Gilla Band 

Lambrini Girls 

Soho Radio

Reading Festival

From scout-hut gigs to the economics of touring, DiS sits down with Giles Bidder - host of 101 Part Time Jobs for an unsentimental look at how creative lives are actually sustained today.

In this first instalment, Sean Adams talks to one of the UK’s most quietly compelling broadcasters about the hidden labour behind music culture. Over nearly 600 episodes, Bidder has built one of the most humane music podcasts around, asking artists, writers, and comedians not about their success but about the jobs they’ve done to survive.

Giles explains how 101 Part Time Jobs emerged as both portfolio and refuge: a way to make sense of a patchwork career, rediscover belonging, and document how people navigate a system that rarely works in their favour. Along the way, the conversation takes in touring economics, merch, sync, class, and why even bands who play the Roundhouse still need “normal jobs.”

What emerges is a stark but generous thesis: music is socially priceless and economically precarious. Until that gap closes, culture will continue to run on grit, goodwill, and vast amounts of invisible labour.

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 - Intro 

01:26 - Sitting in the “other chair”: Giles as guest, not host

04:05 - Ska/punk origins, micro-prejudices, and how scenes teach you

07:45 - Why 101 Part Time Jobs began: Universal Credit, lockdown, stability

08:55 - Human curation and introducing unknown artists

11:25 - The myth of “making it”: Roundhouse bands with day jobs

13:55 - Why meaningful art can still leave artists broke

16:10 - Music is priceless but paid in grains of pennies

18:20 - Gilla Band, Lambrini Girls, and invisible cultural impact

19:25 - Class, rent, and the radical idea of simply covering your life

20:15 - Why customer-facing jobs matter (merch, coffee shops, respect)

23:55 - Hard work, timing, and opportunity

25:20 - Standout episodes and the “slow-burn” edit

29:10 - Bad bosses, anger, and fear-based workplaces

31:55 - Power, responsibility, and attention in podcasting

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

101 Part Time Jobs (Giles Bidder) 

Community Garden Radio (Shaun Keaveny) 

Music Venue Trust - protecting grassroots venues 

Gilla Band 

Lambrini Girls 

Soho Radio

Reading Festival

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