<p><strong>Your easy weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. </strong>Become a <a href="https://www.patreon.com/12218634/join">⁠⁠⁠⁠<strong>Superfan of the podcast for free – and enjoy a weekly Superfan Lock-in section!</strong></a></p><p><strong>This week... </strong>Steve and Stu get Phonky with the biggest overlooked genre in the world: so what is Phonk anyway? Also on TPOM this week:</p><ul><li><p>How much music streaming is “passive” – where the platform chooses what you listen to? </p></li><li><p>What impact does that have on our listening habits – and just <em>who</em> is controlling what we listen to?</p></li><li><p><strong>A listener question:</strong> what is “radio plugging” and how does it work – and how does it affect (or not) what Steve plays on the radio? (<a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Email us your own question here</a>!)</p></li><li><p>Only 20% of tracks in the 2025 UK top 100 <a href="https://musically.com/2026/03/03/mmf-boss-issues-warning-on-unspoken-crisis-in-british-music/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">were performed by UK artists</a>: so is music by UK artists being listened to less in its home country? And if so, why?  </p></li><li><p>Would you want your ashes stored in an urn that doubles as… a bluetooth speaker?</p></li><li><p>Why are Brazil and Mexico listening to so much UK music? (And how much of it is just Oasis?)</p></li><li><p>Legendary UK grassroots venue the Sheffield Leadmill is finding a new home – and how are they going to raise the money to do it?</p></li><li><p>Plus: cultural catnip for listeners of a <em>certain age</em> – not one but <em>two</em> mentions of Jim Bob from Carter USM <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1vJW0AF84o" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">rugby-tackling people on stage</a>.</p></li></ul><p><strong>And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our </strong><a href="https://www.patreon.com/12218634/join" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠<strong>Patreon Superfans</strong>⁠⁠</a><strong>, Steve and Stu prop themselves at the bar to discuss this week&#39;s bonus material:</strong></p><ul><li><p>Something light to consider: what are the songs that will be played at Steve and Stu’s funerals?</p></li><li><p>Some reflections on the BRIT awards, including wondering who thought interviewing Shaun and Bez from Happy Mondays live on TV was a good idea…</p></li><li><p>More on radio plugging (something Steve has a lot of thoughts on...)</p></li><li><p>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?</p></li></ul><p>===================================</p><p><strong>As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular</strong> – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!</p><p>Email us: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠</a><a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><strong>[email protected]</strong></a><a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠</a></p><p>See you next week!</p><p>Steve and Stuart</p><p>======</p><p>TPOM online: <a href="http://tpom.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">http://tpom.uk/</a></p><p>Support The Price of Music on Patreon:</p><p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠</a><a href="https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠</a></p><p>Follow Steve on X - @steve_lamacq</p><p>Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge</p><p>Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod</p><p>For sponsorship opportunities, please email - <a href="mailto:⁠⁠[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠⁠[email protected]</a></p>