Co-founded in 2025 as a multi-platform production company to surface music’s collective power for change.
Led by music industry veterans Sean Adams and Tom Venvell, The Sounding combines three decades of experience scaling businesses, launching global campaigns, and driving creative innovation.
Our senior team
Co-Founder & Creative Director
Sean Adams
Sean founded music platform Drowned in Sound in 2000 and ran its record label, helping launch artists including Kaiser Chiefs and Bat for Lashes. Since then, he's led communications and growth campaigns for startups, artists including Charlotte Church and Max Richter, and brands from Burberry to BMG. He transformed BBC Radio 6 Music’s social strategy, and collaborated with Carol Vorderman on an election-shifting campaign. He founded The Association of Music Editors and is co-host of the DiS Podcast.
Co-Founder & COO
Tom Venvell
Tom brings 15 years of business leadership as former International Director at digital music tech leader Muse Group, and a Managing Director of Hal Leonard, the world's largest printed music publisher, where he also ran Musicroom retail. Previously a director at Music Publishers Association, he currently sits on the board of Music Industries Association.
Network collaborators
Host of Sounds Like Change
Ariana Alexander-Sefre
Ariana is a social innovator and systems thinker at the intersection of music, mental health, and social change. She is the Founder of SPOKE, a multi-award-winning platform that delivers mental healthcare through music and lyrics. She is a winner of the SXSW Innovation Award 2024, East London Innovator Award 2020, WISE100 Woman Award 2022, NatWest Trailblazer Award 2023 and more.
Catherine is an artist, producer and industry advocate working at the intersection of music, motherhood and systemic change. Recording as The Anchoress, she has released three critically acclaimed albums, including UK Top 40 record The Art of Losing, and is a three-times nominee of Music Producers Guild Awards. A published author, she is Professor of Music Production & Songwriting at ICMP and Senator of the Ivors Academy.
Helena Wadia is a multimedia journalist and award-winning presenter working across print, video, and audio. She was a longtime news anchor on London Live's News at Six and regularly presents NME magazine's In Conversation series. She has worked for the Evening Standard, Channel 5 News, BBC Asian Network, The Independent, The Line of Best Fit, and more. Helena specialises in feminism, race issues, and social justice.
Shain is one of the world's foremost music policy thinkers - the founder of economics consultancy Sound Diplomacy and the non-profit Center for Music Ecosystems, author of the acclaimed book This Must Be The Place: How Music Can Make Your City Better, and director of the Music Economy Development Initiative. Named one of the Top 25 people to watch in the music industry by Spin Magazine in 2025.
An independent Yorkshire based production company, Tell Studio is a collective of multidisciplinary creatives working across digital, film and TV. Specialising in creating emotive film campaigns for socially-conscious brands to elevate brand perception and produce measurable impact data.
