The Stories of 2025 - Part 1: Megagigs, Grassroots, and AI slop
What were the biggest stories in music this year? No, not the releases or the hype cycles but the forces reshaping how music is made, played, toured, and valued.
In Part 1 of Drowned in Sound’s Stories of the Year, Sean Adams and Emma Wilkes count down stories #5 and #4, starting with a contradiction that defined 2025: record-breaking mega-gigs and billion-pound industry headlines on one side, and a grassroots ecosystem under existential pressure on the other.
They talk through the “mega gig” (stadium shows, park festivals, corporate-backed cultural events) and also ask what their success is…
The skinny
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