Music blog and online community Drowned In Sound is launching a print magazine some 26 years after it first launched a digital publication.
Shownotes, the magazine, is supported by the Music Venue Trust and 50,000 copies will be distributed for free at 500 live music venues around the UK in November and then on a quarterly basis.
Editor Hannah Ewans said: “Our small editorial team – which I’m really proud to say is all-female, and includes Edinburgh-based Arusa Qureshi, who specialises in hip-hop and R&B, and rock and post-punk specialist Kate Jeffrie, who runs her own print music magazine, Negativland – has done a great job of shaping the first issue in just a few weeks. Music journalism can feel static and drained of life, especially after years of rolling staff cuts and publications folding. The concept of a magazine that uses something as visceral and immediate as the live experience as the lens through which to understand and celebrate music is a perfect antidote to that.
“I believe that the dominance of short-form video and filmed content, at the expense of quality writing and print, doesn’t serve artists or fans. Being able to sit with beautifully written, intimate profiles, esoteric long-form thinking, and curious investigations still matters. Shownotes will be something fans can leave with after a gig, relive the excitement through at home, and use to start planning their next show. On a personal note, I’m obsessed with print, and being able to commission my weird ideas and some of my favourite writers and photographers is a pleasure I feel blessed to indulge in again.”
Shownotes publisher Sean Adams launched Drowned in Sound in 2000 as a collective of fanzine writers and live music enthusiasts.
He also ran the DiS label, which launched the careers of bands including the Kaiser Chiefs, and has also worked as a columnist for The Sunday Times. Last year he launched multimedia production company The Sounding.
Adams said: “For 26 years Drowned in Sound has shared our infectious passion for music. We’re really grateful that Music Venue Trust believes in our vision to make a magazine for fangirls who race to the barrier and [BBC Radio] 6 Music dads dancing in the back row of the Barrowlands. Shownotes is a magazine for every music lover and, in a time of media apocalypse, where finding trusted human voices is harder than ever, whether you’re a trad folkster or operatic metaller or both or neither, having glimpsed the first issue and knowing the plans going forward, you will find something in the magazine to pique your curiosity.
“My hope is that the editorial and recommendations will inspire fans to discover their local scenes and take day trips around the UK to check out genres of music outside of their algo-bubble. Our mission is to get more people to go to more gigs and, beyond just recommending shows, we have some projects beyond the magazine up our sleeves.”
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