Kriss Thakrar | MIDiA Research

Billie Eilish delivered a superfan masterclass

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

4 Jun 2024

While the industry standard for new releases has long been about scale and velocity, Billie Eilish, her brother Finneas, and Darkroom/Interscope, the labels behind their latest album Hit Me Hard and Soft...

Apple is not the only one crushing the old music-making paradigm

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

15 May 2024

Music

creator tools

music production

Apple is crushing it – literally. The new iPad Pro ad received widespread backlash for its controversial crushing of musical instruments to demonstrate what is ‘packed into’ Logic Pro on the iPad....

We need ‘real’ artists for the return to reality

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

1 May 2024

algorithms

TikTok

gen z

The big theme of MIDiA’s 2024 predictions is that ‘ the algorithm is not listening ’. A third of the way into the year, we are seeing more and more evidence that this is the case. The past few years...

Taylor Swift, The Black Dog, and the fan frenzy flywheel

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

25 Apr 2024

Fandom

Superfans

taylor swift

A new Taylor Swift album is almost guaranteed to start a fan frenzy - the question is, what form will it take? Breaking Spotify records is a given, but digital consumption is not enough to satiate super...

Beyond the obvious
Building future-focused strategy

Report by Mark Mulligan, Keith Jopling and Kriss Thakrar

15 Feb 2024

Business strategy has long been demarcated across sustaining and disruptive innovation. In the digital realm the latter has had the upper hand, but as digital enters a slower growth phase, sustaining innovation...

Independent label survey
Playing the volume game

Cover image for Independent label survey

Report by Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

16 Jan 2024

This report presents data from the 2023 MIDiA Research Independent Record Label survey The survey was fielded across three months in H1 2023, closing in May2023, with a sample size of 142 Topics covered...

MIDiA's 2024 predictions webinar
The algorithm is not listening

Cover image for MIDiA's 2024 predictions webinar

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano, Perry Gresham, Kazia Rothwell, Ben Woods and Ashleigh Millar

12 Jan 2024

Free Report

MIDiA analysts dive into our 2024 predictions, and why we believe the algorithm isn't listening. Watch the webinareither on YouTube or LinkedIn ....

MIDiA’s 2024 predictions report
The algorithm is not listening

Cover image for MIDiA’s 2024 predictions report

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Perry Gresham, Kazia Rothwell and Ben Woods

14 Dec 2023

Business Strategy

2023 was another year of change and disruption. 2024 will be even more defined by change than the years that preceded it. But much of this change will be defined by reaction more than action. The unintended...

Patchwork / Fortnite

Case Study by Mark Mulligan and Kriss Thakrar

12 Dec 2023

Read the case study …

The $100m+ in-game opportunity behind music producers

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

15 Nov 2023

Music creators

monetizing fandom

creator tools

MIDiA’s latest forecasts predict that the video game industry will be worth over $300 billion in 2030, a figure that makes a minnow out of a music industry that will reach $87 billion in retail terms...

Identity and culture have killed genre in a scenes-driven industry

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

31 Oct 2023

scenes

jazz

TikTok

This year has seen a renaissance for jazz in popular culture, with artists like Laufey, DOMi and JD Beck, and Ezra Collective succeeding on commercial and critical levels. However, their successes also...

There are no elite artists without elite artist development

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

24 Oct 2023

artist development

creators

creator economy

A recent interview with Mariah the Scientist saw her speak about the struggle of performing for only the second time in front of a crowd at one of the world’s biggest festivals, Rolling Loud. She shared...

Streaming is missing cultural moments, and superstars know it

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

11 Oct 2023

Streaming

Fandom

Superfans

In the modern music industry, a near constant supply of music is expected to succeed on streaming platforms . Drake is one of the best examples of this: since 2015 he has released an album every year,...

Artist subscriptions are the superfan opportunity

Report by Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

30 Aug 2023

Key insights: Artist subscriptions are a pragmatic scalable solution to streaming’s growing problems, delivering value to fans, creators, and rightsholders When asked what would persuade them to pay...

Dance Cry Dance Break innovates subscriptions with artist storytelling

Case Study by Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

30 Aug 2023

Read the case study …

A new era of ‘fan-made’ music is about to begin

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

30 Aug 2023

Tik Tok

TikTok Music

creator tools

Since MIDiA’s comments on TikTok’s music production ambitions more than two years ago, a lot has changed. Consumers have become bolder and more engaged in playing an active role in their music consumption....

Don’t be fooled by the streams that it’s got, it’s still hip hop from the block

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

15 Aug 2023

live music

hip hop

Fandom

Over its 50 years, hip hop has gone from a block party in the Bronx to a conquering global culture. It now accounts for almost a quarter of Spotify streams , with three-quarters of users listening to hip...

Return to live
Post-pandemic music fans

Report by Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

20 Jul 2023

Consumer Behaviour

live music

Music creators

Today’s live music audience skews 45+, with rock concerts and theatres / concert halls dominating sales. Fandom is by far the strongest factor in purchasing tickets, eclipsing price, and location. So,...

The tap water music industry needs to become a bottled one

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

20 Jun 2023

Music Streaming

artists direct

creator economy

Music and water are often compared to each other in the streaming age. There are many ways to express this analogy, but the bottom line is that music is becoming commoditised. To clarify, commoditisation...

Embrace, enhance or hinder: What will AI do for you, the creator?

Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

3 May 2023

AI

creator economy

artists direct

There has been an abundance of coverage and conversation around AI, and it is unlikely to fade away any time soon. There is a question of how AI will change the music industry and broader creator economy....