The Grassroots Pledge: Wrestling Instagram, Spotify, and the Arts Council with promoter David Littlefair
What does it actually mean to be a grassroots music promoter in 2026?
David Littlefair joins the Drowned in Sound Podcast to discuss the grassroots pledge he's made with Marrapalooza, the DIY festival in Newcastle's Ouseburn Valley - redirecting ad spend away from Meta, refusing to book artists based on follower counts, and putting money back into the local scene instead of offshore platforms.
We also get into the bigger picture: why 85% of Arts Council music funding goes to opera and classical music while brass bands and folk get 0.6% each, how Spotify has spent fifteen years extracting…
The skinny
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