Music Venue Trust and Drowned In Sound unite for new publication
Shownotes promises gig recommendations, interviews, and essays by respected music journalists
Music Venue Trust (MVT) and Drowned In Sound have teamed up to release a new magazine, Shownotes, which will be available for free at more than 500 live music venues across the UK from the beginning of November. Running 64 pages, the magazine will feature gig recommendations, interviews with acts, and essays from some of the most respected music journalists in the world.
Edited by Hannah Ewens, who’s perhaps best known for her time at Vice and her book Fangirls: Scenes From Modern Music Culture, the magazine will foreground her special interest in music fans, as well as stadium and arena acts who support MVT’s grassroots levy, cult musicians, and rising acts plying their trade at small venues. Design for the magazine will come from Raissi Pardini, who has become the go-to poster designer for bands as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Blur and Bikini Kill.
Ewens says: ‘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.’
Publisher Sean Adams, of Drowned In Sound, says: ‘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…’
The news comes in the same month that The Skinny, one of Scotland’s most popular arts publications, closed its doors, alongside its sister publications Fest and Gnaw. After two decades in publishing, representatives of The Skinny released a statement which said: ‘We have not been immune to the economic difficulties in the Scottish arts and despite our very best efforts, funding pressures across the sector, rising costs and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis have contributed to an increasingly challenging situation.’ Read the statement in full.
Picture: Sneaky Pete's.