Mark Mulligan | MIDiA Research

2018 Global Label Market Share: Stream Engine

Mark Mulligan

13 Mar 2019

Recorded music revenues grew in 2018 for the fourth consecutive year, reaching $18.8 billion, up $2.2 billion from 2017. Streaming was the engine room of growth, up 30% year on year to reach $9.6 billion.

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Here’s How Spotify Can Fix Its Songwriter Woes (Hint: It’s All About Pricing)

Mark Mulligan

11 Mar 2019

Copyright Royalty Board

music publishers

Netflix

Songwriter royalties have always been a pain point for streaming, especially in the US where statutory rates determine much of how songwriters get paid. The current debate over Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and Google challenging the Copyright Royalty Board’s proposed 44% increase illustrates jus...

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Recorded Music Market 2018
Stream Engine

Cover image for Recorded Music Market 2018

Mark Mulligan

March 2019

music sales

Streaming

Streaming Music

For the fourth consecutive year, recorded music revenues grew again in 2018 with streaming revenue the engine room of growth. For the first time, streaming became the majority of label revenue and its growth continues to outpace the decline of legacy formats.

Kobalt is a Major Label Waiting to Happen

Mark Mulligan

6 Mar 2019

artist contracts

Artists

AWAL

Disclaimer: Kobalt is a label, a publisher, as well as a Performing Rights Organisation (PRO). This post focuses on its label business, but does not presume to overlook its other aspects. News has emerged of Kobalt potentially looking to raise an additional $100 million of investment , following a 2...

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Why India Matters to Spotify, and Why it May Not Deliver

Mark Mulligan

28 Feb 2019

emerging markets

India

india streaming

Warner Music and Spotify have been involved in a rather unseemly and very public spat this week over Spotify’s India launch . I’ll leave for someone else, the discussions of the potential implications of a blanket license for songwriter rights in India for an on-demand streaming service.

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MIDiA Research Predictions 2018: Post-Peak Economics

Mark Mulligan

26 Feb 2019

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, media in 2018. Key Predictions Competition for time and attention will define the coming years for digital content; growth will come often at the expense of...

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What the 2018 Success of the Beatles for UMG Tells Us About Where Streaming is Heading

Mark Mulligan

21 Feb 2019

Universal Music Group recorded an impressive €6 billion in revenue in 2018, bolstering a JP Morgan valuation of $50 billion . No doubt, UMG is enjoying a purple patch, riding and driving the wave of recorded music industry growth.

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Spotify Q4 2018: Solid Growth With a Hint of Profitability But Longer Term Questions

Mark Mulligan

14 Feb 2019

Spotify

Spotify earnings

Spotify financials

Spotify finished 2018 strongly, over performing in both subscriber and ad supported MAU additions. This was accompanied by Spotify’s first ever profitable quarter and two major podcast acquisitions early in 2019 hinting at a positive year ahead.

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Spotify Q4 2018 Earnings
Strong Subscriber Growth With a Hint of Profitability but Long-Term ARPU Deflation

Cover image for Spotify Q4 2018 Earnings

Mark Mulligan

February 2019

Subscriptions

Streaming

Streaming Music

Spotify finished 2018 strongly, over performing in both subscriber and ad-supported MAU additions. This was accompanied by Spotify’s first ever profitable quarter and two major podcast acquisitions early in 2019, hinting at a positive year ahead. However, at the same time, premium ARPU continues a long-term decline.

Podcasts: a Netflix Moment for Radio But Perhaps not the Future of Spotify

Mark Mulligan

6 Feb 2019

Anchor

Gimlet

Podcasts

Wednesday was a busy day for Spotify: it reported above-expected subscriber growth, hitting 96 million paid subscribers, strong total user growth reaching207 million MAUs , improved margins and its first ever profitable quarter, registering an operating profit of €94 million.

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Why First is Far Less Important Than Best

Mark Mulligan

4 Feb 2019

Epic Games

Fortnite

fortnite live stream

Following Marshmello’s ‘live’ performance in Fortnite which was seen by 10 million simultaneous gamers, there has been the inevitable chorus of ‘but 2 nd life did this more than a decade ago’.

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Marshmello Just Live Streamed on Fortnite…So Just What is a Concert?

Mark Mulligan

2 Feb 2019

Epic Games

Fortnite

fortnite live stream

On Saturday I watched my 12 year old son scoff down his meal so that he could rush upstairs to get logged on with his friends in time for a Marshmello live streamed event on Fortnite. As you can see from the video this was Marshmello appearing as a Fortnite character, on stage with his music playing.

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MIDiA Research Music Forecasts 2018–2026

Mark Mulligan

February 2019

Business Strategy

This report presents the key figures, trends and drivers of MIDiA’s music forecast model. The figures presented in this report are retail values and in billions of US dollars unless otherwise stated. Retail values refer to total revenues generated, including retailer margin, music publishing royalties and sales tax.

Japan Should Look to China for Future Streaming Growth

Mark Mulligan

30 Jan 2019

China

china streaming market

Japan

Japan is the world’s second largest recorded music market and accounts for 14% of the global total. However, Japan is not following the wider market path of surging streaming revenues driving overall market growth.

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Ad-supported Strategies Are Playing A Growing Role In The Digital Economy

Mark Mulligan

21 Jan 2019

Critical Developments

2018 was a big year for subscriptions, across music (Spotify on target to hit 92 million subscribers), video (global subscriptions passed half a billion), games (98 million Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus subscribers) and news (New York Times 2.

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Bingo: The Analogue Antidote to Digital Overload

Mark Mulligan

18 Jan 2019

bing players millions

Bingo

bingo market

This week MIDiA published a report on a sector that has been on the side lines for some time but is returning to health: Bingo! If you are based in the UK you may well have seen or heard some of the extensive media coverage this report that was commissioned by Buzz Bingo got.

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Just Who Would Buy Universal Music?

Mark Mulligan

14 Jan 2019

Access Industries

Artists direct

Bolloré Group

Vivendi continues to look for a buyer for a portion of Universal Music . Though the process has been running officially since May 2018 , the transaction (or transactions) may not close until 2020. In many instances, dragging out a sale could reflect badly, suggesting that the seller is struggling to...

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Africa and Asia Music Repertoire Shares

Mark Mulligan

January 2019

iTunes

Spotify

YouTube

This report provides repertoire splits across streaming music services in a number of sub-Saharan African and Asian markets. Also presented are details on the key labels, artists and genres for each of the countries covered. Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Apple Music, Avex, AWA Music, Boomplay, Cashtime, Chocolate City, Deezer, D-Hi...

Why Music and Video are Crucial to Apple’s Future

Mark Mulligan

7 Jan 2019

Amazon Prime

apple earnings

comes with music

Apple’s downgraded earnings guidance represents its first profit warning in 10 years. This is clearly a big deal, and probably not as much to do with a weakening Chinese economy ifAlibaba’s 2018 Singles’ Day annual growth of 23% is anything to go by.

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How YouTube’s Domination of Streaming Clips the Market’s Wings

Mark Mulligan

3 Jan 2019

Ad Supported

ad supported arpu

ad supported streaming

Firstly, happy new year to you all. Now on to the first post of 2019. The Article 13 debate that shaped so much of the latter part of 2018 will continue to play an important role throughout 2019 while European and then national legislators deliberate on the provision and the wider Digital Copyright ...

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