Your easy weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. Become a ⁠⁠⁠⁠Superfan of the podcast for free – and enjoy a weekly Superfan Lock-in section!

This week... Steve and Stu get Phonky with the biggest overlooked genre in the world: so what is Phonk anyway? Also on TPOM this week:

• How much music streaming is “passive” – where the platform chooses what you listen to?

• What impact does that have on our listening habits – and just who is controlling what we listen to?

• A listener question: what is “radio plugging” and how does it work – and how does it affect (or not) what Steve plays on the radio? (Email us your own question here!)

• Only 20% of tracks in the 2025 UK top 100 were performed by UK artists: so is music by UK artists being listened to less in its home country? And if so, why?  

• Would you want your ashes stored in an urn that doubles as… a bluetooth speaker?

• Why are Brazil and Mexico listening to so much UK music? (And how much of it is just Oasis?)

• Legendary UK grassroots venue the Sheffield Leadmill is finding a new home – and how are they going to raise the money to do it?

• Plus: cultural catnip for listeners of a certain age – not one but two mentions of Jim Bob from Carter USM rugby-tackling people on stage.

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠, Steve and Stu prop themselves at the bar to discuss this week's bonus material:

• Something light to consider: what are the songs that will be played at Steve and Stu’s funerals?

• Some reflections on the BRIT awards, including wondering who thought interviewing Shaun and Bez from Happy Mondays live on TV was a good idea…

• More on radio plugging (something Steve has a lot of thoughts on...)

• AI music generation platform Suno now has 2m paying users… and does this mean that people are using it to flood the world with AI music?

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As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

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