Show Notes
How can the UK music industry be both in crisis and booming? In 2024, the sector was worth a record £8 billion to the UK economy but at the same time, grassroots venues are closing, artists are struggling to tour, and AI threatens to steal musicians’ work for the profit of broligarchs. In this week’s episode, Sean Adams speaks with Tom Kiehl, CEO of UK Music, about the findings in the organisation’s brand new annual report This Is Music 2025. Together they unpack the contradictions of a sector growing on paper but straining at its foundations from slowing post-pandemic growth and the fight for fair AI regulation, to the obstacles making it harder for new artists breaking through. With reflections on Brexit’s lasting damage, AI’s issues with consent, and a new £1 grassroots levy, it’s a revealing look at an industry at a crossroads. Edited by: Josh Craggs at Dubble Audio Chapters 00:00 – The £8 Billion Paradox: Growth vs Crisis 03:30 – Who UK Music Represents and What It Does 07:30 – File-Sharing to AI: The Evolution of Rights Battles 13:30 – “Pro-Innovation” or Anti-Artist? AI and Copyright in 2025 18:30 – Levies, Inequality, and the Grassroots Squeeze 24:30 – Breaking Artists in a Post-Pandemic Landscape 29:30 – Rehearsal Spaces, Mentorship, and Missing Infrastructure 35:30 – Why Britain Needs a Music Export Office 41:30 – Ticketing Chaos, Regulation, and the Fan Experience 47:30 – What Fans Can Do: From Campaigns to Collective Power 52:30 – The Future of British Music: Soft Power and Survival 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:
Read UK Music’s This Is Music 2025 Report UK Music Official Website UK Music on Instagram Drowned in Sound Newsletter
More from Drowned in Sound
In part two of our investigation into AI rapper Danny Bones, Sean and journalists Effie Webb and Harriet Williamson ask what his rise means for musicians, copyright and the future of human creativity. We discuss the appropriation of Black music, Spotify’s response to AI artists, artist reactions, and why transparency and accountability matter as AI-generated music floods streaming platforms.
In part one of our two-part investigation into AI rapper Danny Bones, Sean is joined by journalists Effie Webb and Harriet Williamson to uncover the real people behind the anonymous Node Project and its links to far-right. They discuss Danny Bones’ rapid online rise, his intervention in real-world politics, and the uneasy relationship between algorithms, generative AI and political propaganda.
Ahead of the release of Stay Lonely, their seventh studio album, DiS catches up with Blood Red Shoes
Sean and Helena on Robyn selling out the O2 without being an obvious household name, My Chemical Romance’s Black Parade in full at Wembley Stadium and the tears that came with it, and The National’s Matt Berninger’s solo show.
Andy Burnham, Paris Hilton, and football, all get discussed in this yapping edition of the DiS podcast.