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The Drowned in Sound logo

DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine dedicated to new music.

DiS started as The Last Resort but was relaunched by founder Sean Adams as Drowned in Sound in 2000. It is managed by Sean Adams, designed by Simon Menhinick and programmed by Matthew Willson (with server hosting and support from David Nattriss) with Mike Diver serving as the site's Editor. Core contributors include Alex Denney (Listings Editor / Senior Staff Writer), Kev Kharas (News Editor / Senior Staff Writer) and Gareth Dobson (Senior Staff Writer). Dobson is a former editor of the site; he was succeeded by Colin Roberts, who presently works in artist management, who was in turn succeeded by Diver.

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 40,000 registered members, and gets around 300,000 unique visitors per month.

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. Silentway continue to invest in both businesses. The remaining shares in the record label are owned by founder Sean Adams and the website shares are split between Adams and Matthew Willson, in Adams' favour.

The site's message boards exist in an almost autonomous fashion, with regular posters only occasionally delving into the site's editorial content. Similarly, only a small percentage of the full DiS readership posts comments on a regular basis. Regulars have helped to spawn a number of 'DiSisms' - scroll for further information.

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 to Popjustice.com. A year earlier the site was also runner-up in the category of Best Website, although then to NME.com.

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 (http://drownedinsound.com/articles/2617536).

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
• Komakino
• The Koreans
• Les Incompétents
• Martha Wainwright
• Metric
• Redjetson
• The Stills
• thisgirl

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. The show is currently on hiatus.

• Drowned in Sound
• Drowned in Sound Recordings

• DiSisms