DK scores Tim Burgess listening party book

DK has scored a book from The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess following the success of his lockdown listening parties on social media.

World rights for The Listening Party were acquired by Mark Searle, publishing director for DK licensing, directly from Burgess. It will publish in September 2021.

The hitmaker launched his Twitter listening parties a year ago when the UK first went into lockdown. Every night he tweeted about a different artist's albums, while fans at home listened to the artist's recordings. The listening parties have clocked more than 950,000 online replays since they started in March 2020.

DK will make a donation to Music Venue Trust and royalties from book sales will go to the charity to support its #saveourvenues campaign to help grassroots music venues under threat of closure.

Burgess said: “The very first listening party we did was 10 years ago and then on 23rd March 2020 when the UK went into lockdown, we started a series where we invited some guests, thinking these would go on for a week or two. Here we are 735 listening parties later! Our friends at DK asked if I’d be interested in working on a book and we loved the idea. We are also thrilled that sales of the book will be supporting Music Venue Trust.”

The synopsis explains: “The Listening Party will capture the essence of the experience, re-living more than 100 of the parties to date. For each album there will be an original introduction and reproduced tweets from Tim, artists and fans, alongside rarely seen photos and memorabilia. The foreword has been written by Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs with an introduction from Pete Paphides.”

Searle said: “In March 2020, stuck in lockdown and missing gigs, a friend sent a group text telling me to join one of Tim's Twitter Listening Parties. We listened along to Fontaines DC's 'Dogrel' and reminisced about seeing them live. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have done the same across more than 700 parties. The way Tim has brought people together while we've been apart is a phenomenon. To be publishing The Listening Party is a real honour. It will be a book for any music lover to treasure.”