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6 min read advice

25 Ideas to Keep Your Music Scene Alive in 2025

A list of ways music fans can support the music we love and the grassroots ecosystem it relies upon.
25 Ideas to Keep Your Music Scene Alive in 2025
Cover image designed by Sean Adams using Adobe Express library

Simple Tips to Help Artists, Venues, and Independent Media Thrive

My mission in 2025 is to figure out how, as music lovers, we can best work together to end the crisis in the music industry and to prevent us from sleep-walking down the path to a dystopian 2050.

That may sound a bit dramatic but we are already seeing many towns losing their live music scenes, and if you think things are tough for acts like Kate Nash and Lily Allen level acts, just imagine what it's like further down the food chain.

What Can Fans Do?

To jumpstart the year, I created a list of ways music fans can support the music we love and the ecosystem it relies upon. A lot of these ideas will cost you nothing but a few minutes of your time (because they're about sending a signal to the algorithms that control what people see), whilst others you can delay until payday by setting reminders.

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Tip: you can quickly set reminders by using the voice assistant on your smart phone: "Hey Siri/Google, set a reminder to look up my local venue and buy some gig tickets at 7pm on Feb 1st"

If you have any queries, drop me a reply and I'll add your Qs to a podcast version of this newsletter. Make sure you're subscribed on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts (all episodes are currently available for free).

New! Drowned in Sound's Podcast is now on YouTube and I've uploaded my very first video here summarising what you can expect in the year ahead. Please take a second to subscribe, even if you don't have time to watch right now.

How to Keep Your Music Scene Alive in 2025

Support Your Local Venue

Venues are the heart of every music scene. Lots of grassroots music venues and clubs have closed, 60 or so independent UK festivals ended in 2024, this is the crisis that I covered in this highly shared article.

If you've not done so recently or don't know what venues are near you, fire up Songkick and search for towns and cities in your local area to see where is putting on shows in the coming weeks and months.

You can help keep venues alive by:

  1. Buying tickets to an upcoming show or setting a payday reminder to do so. Advance ticket sales give venues and promoters the cashflow and confidence to keep booking artists.
  2. Head to their websites and sign up. Joining local venues and local promoter's mailing lists ensures you get updates and sometimes exclusive offers (some venues have cool merch too!).
  3. Bookmarking their listings page to stay in the loop about new events.
  4. Follow them online, share their posts to boost visibility, and remember to tag the venue when sharing your memories or excitement about upcoming shows
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Fun fact: people running social accounts for festival and massive stadium will reshare posts as often so few people tag them.

Community Ideas:

  1. Go see a random artist you’ve never heard of every month at your local venue. (suggested by Ross from How to Build A Festival podcast)
  2. Check out a local open mic night for up-and-coming artists and enjoyable covers. Often a brilliant evening of live music for the cost of a pint. (Purple Larley)
Why it matters: We're all part of a music ecosystem and artists from around the world are relying on coming to your thriving local scene.

Support Record Labels

Labels invest in the music you love, so show them some love back:

  1. Which labels are supporting the music you love? Look up the labels behind your favourite recent releases - you can find their names on the back of records or by looking them up on Discogs or in the small print on streaming platforms.
  2. Follow those labels online and join their mailing lists.
  3. If you see a label coming up a lot in your collection, set a calendar reminder on a random date with a link to check their Bandcamp pages or playlists for new artists.

Side Note: Buying records can be a great way to support artists and labels, but the impact varies depending on their record deals and whether they’ve recouped costs. This guide highlights actions that offer the most direct and immediate support to artists and local scenes, rather than billionaire platform owners and major label shareholders.

Community Ideas:

  1. Buy CDs or vinyl directly from the artist at shows, Bandcamp, or their website. (omnipoprecordshop & Frank Smith)
Why it matters: Music is a cyclical economy and all labels depend on sales to keep investing in new projects and pushing creative boundaries.

Support the Acts You Like

If you've streamed an album more than 5 times, consider:

  1. Treating yourself to merch (or setting a payday reminder).
  2. Engaging with their posts - like, comment, and share to boost visibility.
  3. Joining their mailing list to stay connected and get exclusive updates.

Community Ideas:

  1. Always get there for the support act or visit smaller stages at festivals. Check out artists in advance, make a schedule, and share discoveries online. (Paul Goodall)
  2. Share albums, acts, and events you find and like - it makes a massive difference. (Matt McCartney)
Why it matters: Engagement boosts an artist's reach and helps cut through social media algorithms.

Support the Acts You Love

If you've streamed an album 10+ times, go the extra mile:

  1. Buy a ticket to their nearest show(s) or even look at going on a train trip to see them at a venue in a city you've never been to before (I'd really recommend a roadtrip to Hebden Bridge to visit The Trade's Club).
  2. Join their Patreon or send a donation to support their work (lots of acts have a donate button on their Spotify, which speaks volumes doesn't it?).
  3. Sign up for show alerts on BandsInTown or Songkick or Dice.
  4. Join their online communities - look for Instagram broadcast channels, Facebook groups, Discord servers, or WhatsApp groups. Some acts have also started doing much more than posting music videos on YouTube, Twitch and TikTok.

Community Ideas:

  1. If tiny band X is coming to town, and you’re a fan, offer them a place to stay - floor, sofa, or bed. And breakfast if you can! (TeaRex)
  2. Drop your phone and talk to people about the local music scene and smaller artists - do this while waiting for coffee. (Franck Martin)
Why it matters: Artists rely on fan communities and direct financial support to sustain their work.

Support (Independent) Music Media

Music journalism, podcasters, and video creators play a vital role in keeping scenes alive by filtering and recommending music, as well as spreading the word about gigs and tours and new releases.

Many people - like myself - are totally independent and invest not just time but money in providing free services, so do what you can to help:

  1. Subscribe to their channels on social media and streaming services to keep music news and recommendations bubbling up in your feed, and to help bump their music picks on playlists to our robot overlords.
  2. Set payday reminders to become a paid supporter of newsletters or podcasts.
  3. Treat yourself to a magazine subscription or donate to independent media or use their affiliate links, like this one to try Apple Music for free.
  4. Share their articles, videos and podcasts to boost their reach.
Why it matters: With advertising money flowing to click farms, independent media needs your support to champion underrepresented voices and sustain cultural conversations.
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This is intended to be a general purpose guide for everyone who loves music, so if any of this resonates, drop it to someone in your WhatAapp chat or share it online.

Thank you to everyone who has already built upon my ideas. I have finessed the list I shared online based on your feedback, adding some of your ideas on social media and in this DiS forum thread - please join in and share any ideas I missed.

There's a recurring theme in these ideas of engaging and sharing, which might sound a bit cringe but even if you’re short on cash, spending those 10 minutes a day/week seeking out (rather than waiting for them to arrive in your feed) and engaging with posts, sharing content, and leaving positive comments can make a huge impact.

By increasing the digital footprint of an artist, venue or media outlet, you not only help new fans discover them and their posts but it also remind the teams posting that they’re being heard (it can feel like posting into an abyss sometimes!).

Pre-ordering records and buying tickets in advance supports the entire music ecosystem by giving promoters the resources to book more shows, and labels the funds to cash flow a campaign. Early sales are especially crucial during traditionally quieter months when turnout and sales tend to dip.

I admit that some of these ideas are very obvious but sometimes those are small acts are the ones we overlook. Turning these everyday ideas into a weekly habit or a monthly act could mend the foundations of your local music scene and help independent acts & labels worldwide.

Thank you to everyone who has supported my work with Drowned in Sound throughout 2024! Your contributions allow me to keep advocating for the music I love and push for systemic change in the industry. Join the 1% who keep this newsletter free by becoming a subscriber (try a 7-day free trial here) or make a one-off donation:

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Here's my first ever YouTube video if you're keen to learn what DiS will be dropping into your inbox and podcast feed this year

Published by:

Sean Adams

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