Mark Mulligan

Mark Mulligan is a music analyst and the founder at MIDiA Research. He is a long-term tech analyst and a leading digital thinker with more than 20 years of experience, working with leading global music, entertainment, and tech companies. At MIDiA, Mark focuses on the streaming and creator economies, as well as music business trends and market metrics such as forecasts and market shares.

Creator tools: The music industry’s new top of funnel

Mark Mulligan

30 Nov 2020

For most of 2020, MIDiA has been working on a major piece of work around the fast-growing creator tools space. The themes we had already started working on became rocket propelled with the onset of the pandemic, with an unprecedented volume of artists starting to engage with music production tools, ...

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Spotify Q3 2020 Earnings
The Shift to Free

Mark Mulligan

27 Nov 2020

Subscriptions Streaming Streaming Music

With three quarters of 2020 gone, Spotify has prospered during the most challenging of times, with consistent growth across most metrics. Q3 2020 saw a slight deviation from the script though, with ad-supported in the driving seat, especially in emerging markets.

Time to move beyond the song economy

Mark Mulligan

27 Nov 2020

Music

The UK parliament is currently running an inquiry into the streaming music economy, having called for evidence from across the music business. Earlier this week were the first verbal submissions, from a number of UK artists including Tom Gray (Gomez), Guy Garvey (Elbow), Ed O’Brien (Radiohead) and...

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2021 Predictions
The Year of the Immersive Web

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Alistair Taylor and Hanna Kahlert

23 Nov 2020

Spotify Spotify Discovery

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, brands, marketing, games and sports in 2021 and beyond. Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Amazon...

Snapchat buys Voisey to enter the music market

Mark Mulligan

20 Nov 2020

Snapchat parent company Snap Inc is reported to have acquired music collaboration tool Voisey . Voisey is a relatively new start-up, having raised its first major round mid-2019 and launching later the same year .

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YouTube at two billion: Still much more music opportunity to be had

Mark Mulligan

17 Nov 2020

Music

YouTube just announced its milestone of reaching two billion music users on the platform . YouTube has long been the largest music service on the planet, and it has just extended that lead. In 2019, its official total user number was two billion.

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BandLab
BandLab taps the growing demand for creator communities

Mark Mulligan

15 Nov 2020

Music BandLab online publishing

Founded in 2014, Singapore-headquartered BandLab has built a multi-facetedmusic business, with divisions focused on manufacture of guitars, retail stores,media, and an online artist platform. With significant financial backing, BandLab has made some high-profile acquisitions, including taking a large shareholding in RollingStone (now divested), as ...

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Creator Tools
The Music Industry’s New Top of Funnel

Mark Mulligan

13 Nov 2020

Creators Apple Apple

Music production has traditionally been, at best, an adjacent industry to the recording business, and at worst simply a cost centre. That is now all changing. COVID-19’s disruption catalysed the already-rapid shift towards affordable production tools and the rise of a new generation of online platforms that are reimagining music production as SAA...

Are rights holders missing the point with Twitch?

Mark Mulligan

13 Nov 2020

Twitch has apologised to its users for the growing volume of rights holder takedown notices for music used in Twitch videos . Twitch is in an awkward transitionary phase with music rights holders, not dissimilar to where YouTube was when it was acquired by Google.

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Post-Pandemic Programming Webinar Presentation

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Alistair Taylor, Keith Jopling and Hanna Kahlert

11 Nov 2020

Free Report

Video Music Games

After a period of disruption to the global entertainment landscape, many businesses have found a way to adapt to the new normal, but the recession and prospect of further pandemic peaks have created an unprecedented outlook for entertainment companies.

Discovery Mode: Understanding how Spotify thinks

Mark Mulligan

4 Nov 2020

Spotify’s Discovery Mode announcement looked at the very best a poorly timed announcement, coming at a time when artists and songwriters are more concerned about their income than at any other since the music business returned to growth more than half a decade ago.

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We’re hiring!

Mark Mulligan

2 Nov 2020

MIDiA Research is hiring for a consultant to join our fast growing consulting division. Want to be a part of exciting strategic projects, helping some of the world’s biggest entertainment companies solve market shaping projects? Then send us your CV! More details on the role and how to apply here.

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State of the YouTube Music Economy 3.0
End of the Beginning

Mark Mulligan

30 Oct 2020

Spotify YouTube YouTube

This is the third bi-annual report of its kind, providing the most comprehensive view available of the YouTube music economy. It presents data for revenues, royalty payments, streams, subscribers, user behaviour and user demographics. We explore success factors, cultural trends, monetisation frameworks and contextualise music’s performance agains...

Spotify Q3 2020: What price growth?

Mark Mulligan

29 Oct 2020

Spotify reported another strong quarter in Q3 2020, with subscriber growth up 27% year-on-year (YoY) and ad-supported user growth up 21%. Spotify continues to set the pace for the global streaming market and has demonstrated that streaming has proven resilient to lockdown.

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Post-Pandemic Programming

Mark Mulligan

29 Oct 2020

COVID-19 caused dislocation and disruption to the global entertainment business. Now, the recession and the prospect of further pandemic peaks create an unprecedented outlook for entertainment companies.

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The Rising Power of UGC

Mark Mulligan and Keith Jopling

26 Oct 2020

user-generated content

About this report Audible Magic has commissioned MIDiA to produce a White Paper on the rising power of UGC and the untapped opportunity to monetise the growth in UGC consumer behaviours and new platforms. We will examine the growth of new platforms, use cases and ‘music and content put to purpose’.

How YouTube can be a music industry growth driver

Mark Mulligan

23 Oct 2020

In the coming weeks MIDiA will be presenting the third edition of its biannual YouTube music report, State of the YouTube Music Economy 3.0: End of the Beginning. This is a major report that presents the definitive traits of the YouTube music economy, including revenues, royalty payments, streams, s...

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Podcasts Q2 2020: Spotify takes an early lead

Mark Mulligan

20 Oct 2020

MIDiA has just published its latest Podcast report, P odcasts Q2 2020: Spotify Takes an Early Lead . In it we present data from MIDiA’s quarterly survey that presents a comprehensive view of podcast user behaviour, who podcast listeners are, how it stacks up against radio and music streaming liste...

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HomePod Mini: Apple’s pandemic-era product

Mark Mulligan

15 Oct 2020

Music

Apple’s Tuesday product announcement showcased its 5G iPhones, but also included the launch of the new $99 HomePod Mini. Though it might have looked like a supporting act for the launch, its strategic importance should not be underestimated – especially in the context of how Apple competes with ...

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Podcasts Q2 2020
Spotify Takes an Early Lead

Mark Mulligan

9 Oct 2020

US UK France

Podcasts have become the next battle front for audio. Spotify’s ambitious content and product strategy have enabled it to become an early leader, but the podcast market is still in its infancy, with adoption far lower than radio or streaming music. Podcasts have greater long-term market potential than music streaming but with many divergent objec...

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