We’re looking for folks from around the world to join the Drowned in Sound team, to help improve the breadth and depth of our coverage – especially if you have your finger firmly on the news pulse or know all there is to know about electronica, hip-hop, alt-country and various other genres we touch on but lack certain amounts of specialism…
Who, What and Why does DiS Exist?
Since the dawn of time, people, animals and probably even trees, have tried to communicate and make sense of the world around them. Sound was discovered. Words followed.
Here at Drowned in Sound for the past three years we’ve been digging a trench and laying down the foundations to re-establish a genuine guidance service for music fans. Our reaction to feeling dissatisfied with the music media has led us down a path where we’re now supporting and reporting about what we’ve discovered and love - as well as taking apart the latest big releases and putting them back together again so they make some sense – and 20,000 people a month now read and respect what we’ve created. We've become a guide to new music and a resource for music news, but we know we could be doing even better.
As we reach a crossroads, we’re looking for more people to get involved, from all over the world to:
a) Help inform music fans with even more authoritative suss and creative juice than we’ve ever managed before…
b) Set us in good stead to challenge the sorry state of the music press…
c) Allow us to truly embrace this world-wide web thang.
Why you? Why now?
When the DiS laptop was stolen last year we lost a huge backlog of submissions from people wanting to join, so we’re starting 2004 totally afresh. If music is your life and you can justify your love, here’s what you need to do to get involved…
Send an email to thefolks@drownedinsound.com with the following:
1. A review of your favourite album of 2003 (preferably not written to some dull editorial guidelines), and a list of the runners up, with a sentence about why you love each of ‘em, so we can get an idea of what you’re into too.
2. A 300-word feature/rant-icle about music, feel free to be as random or philosophical as you like. (i.e. Your Predictions for 2004 or 5 Reasons Why Music Festivals Are Killing Music or 10 Reasons Why Garage Rock is Important to American Colonialism…)
3. Your top 5 albums of all-time.
If you’ve written elsewhere, some links would be handy, but it is not essential. We'll get back to people in batches every other weekend, after editorial meetings.
We look forward to your email…
FAQ
No, you won’t get paid, as we don’t make any money, but once you’ve passed a trial period you will get free records, put on guest-lists for gigs and given the opportunity to meet your heroes.
No, we don’t have any hard and fast expectations from you, but we’d ideally like at least two contributions a month and for you to get involved and muck in from time to time.
Strange but true. We've been proven as a great site for people to begin careers in music journalism and get experience writing to an audience. Several of our writers have gone on to write for the likes of NME, Metal Hammer, and Rock Sound.