Music

Freedom Needs a Soundtrack

by Rangzen Productions

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Where it charts

Today’s combined position on our country charts.

Canada · Music

#139

Pulse 9

Ranking history

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About the show

Thirty years ago, the Beastie Boys, U2, Rage Against the Machine, Björk, Radiohead, Pearl Jam, A Tribe Called Quest, and other major artists came together for nonviolence, freedom, and Tibet through the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. In this six-part audio documentary, concert co-founder Erin Potts tells how a small team of twenty-somethings helped build one of the largest concert series of the 1990s. With friends, artists, activists, and organizers who were part of the story, Erin looks back at how the concerts began, what they changed, and what their legacy offers today. This series is a Rangzen production produced by Adonde Media and distributed in partnership with KALW Public Media in San Francisco. To learn more about the concerts go to freedomneedsasoundtrack.com, and hear other podcasts distributed by KALW at kalw.org.

Latest episodes

After the Storm

July 20, 2026 · 34 min

Episode 6: Just two weeks before President Clinton’s trip to China, the D.C. concert becomes the biggest and most consequential yet. After lightning injures concertgoers, the movement carries its message to the Capitol, Beijing and…
No Slowing Down

July 13, 2026 · 21 min

Episode 5: The Tibetan Freedom Concerts head to New York, where the team faces slow ticket sales, city bureaucracy, and the pressure of turning one breakthrough concert into something bigger. But even as the concert nearly breaks them…
The First Concert

July 6, 2026 · 28 min

Episode 4: After two years of near misses, Erin, Adam, and a young team of organizers finally bring the first Tibetan Freedom Concert to life, with one of the most talked-about lineups of the 1990s and a bold new model for turning music…
"Standing up for Freedom"

June 29, 2026 · 29 min

Episode 3: After protest photos and freedom songs are smuggled out of Tibet, Erin returns home, where a dinner with Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys transforms what she witnessed into a new kind of action. Together, they begin imagining what…
Inside Tibet

June 22, 2026 · 32 min

Episode 2: After studying Tibetan in Nepal and meeting Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys in Kathmandu, Erin Potts travels inside Tibet for the first time. In Lhasa, she and Sam Chapin leave their government-assigned tour, move into the…
The Power of Music

June 15, 2026 · 32 min

Episode 1: Before the Tibetan Freedom Concerts became one of the biggest shows of the 1990s, teenage Erin Potts dreamt of a concert for Tibet featuring her favorite band. Meanwhile, imprisoned Tibetan nun Nawang Sangdrol reveals what it…
Introducing Freedom Needs a Soundtrack

June 5, 2026 · 2 min

Coming June 15, 2026, Freedom Needs a Soundtrack is a six-part audio documentary about the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, one of the largest concert series of the 1990s. The series traces how Erin Potts, who co-founded the concerts with Adam…