ABOUT FREEDOM NEEDS A SOUNDTRACK
Freedom Needs a Soundtrack is a podcast celebrating the unexpected yet impactful collaborations between artists, activists, and audiences that have shaped recent history. Launching on the 30th anniversary of the first Tibetan Freedom Concert (June 15–16, 2026), Season One is hosted by Erin Potts alongside Deyden Tethong. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at how art fuels movements, and specifically the movement for a Free Tibet, through stories and experiences shared by Erin Potts through interviews with activists, cultural icons, and everyday changemakers.
From her teenage passion for music, Erin’s activism was sparked by her favorite bands. Her journey progressed from starting an Amnesty International chapter at her school to documenting the Chinese military’s violent response to Tibetan protests inside Tibet to creating the Tibetan Freedom Concerts with Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. The ten-episode season tells unheard stories about trying to make a difference in the world – the hard work, big goals, music fandom, improvised spy tactics, nonviolent activism, backstage pandemonium and geopolitical campaigning, alongside Tibet’s ongoing nonviolent struggle for freedom.
With humor and heart, Freedom Needs a Soundtrack proves that artists, activists and audiences working in tandem are more than just entertainment—they are the high-impact, creative change our world desperately needs right now. As such, this podcast reminds and invites listeners to make their own soundtrack as they work for the causes and communities that they care about.
ABOUT ERIN
Erin Potts has always worked to create change through culture. In her early twenties, she co-founded the Milarepa Fund and Tibetan Freedom Concerts with the Beastie Boys. She went on to establish and lead several nonprofits, including Revolutions Per Minute, a nonprofit agency she co-founded with Pearl Jam and R.E.M. that supported over 1,300 musicians and comedians making change. Throughout her thirty year career, Erin has been an innovator in the field of cultural and narrative strategies, worked with and organized thousands of artists to do social justice work and earned or raised over $20M for important causes. Erin continues this work as a consultant specializing in cultural and narrative strategies and research, and frequently writes on the subject. She has served as a Senior Fellow with the Pop Culture Collaborative, a Program Advisor to the Narrative Initiative and Harmony Labs, a Faculty for artists in the Cultural Leadership Program and on numerous nonprofit boards. She lives in the city that is simultaneously “the city that care forgot” and the historic heart of American music – New Orleans.
ABOUT DEYDEN
Deyden Tethong has spent more than 25 years working on artist activism, philanthropy, Tibet, and human rights. She began her career with the Tibetan Freedom Concerts and The Milarepa Fund, where millions of young people were introduced to the Tibetan cause. Committed to the critical power of artists in social justice work and the many issues they support – Deyden’s focus includes designing and facilitating artist activism programs for national musicians to learn and connect to the issues they are passionate about, while gaining the expertise and support they need to have impact in their activism and giving work.