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.

Cover image for Headphones Market Shares

Headphones Market Shares
Apple Takes the Lead

Mark Mulligan

15 Oct 2018

Subscriptions Streaming Music Subscriptions

Headphones are the physical manifestation of streaming music. With the focus of listening shifted from home speakers to smartphones, headphones have become ubiquitous. But, whereas convenience was unchallenged in the early years, consumers have started to place more importance on quality.

Looking for the Music in Tencent Music

Mark Mulligan

5 Oct 2018

China KuGou Kuwo

The Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) F1 filing makes for highly interesting reading, but don’t expect copious amounts of data to give you an inside track in the way that Spotify’s F1 filing did. Instead TME’s F1 bears much closer resemblance to iQyi’s F1, namely a basic level of KPIs, lots ...

Cover image for Looking for the Music in Tencent Music

Making Free Pay: Fine-tuning Freemium

Mark Mulligan

3 Oct 2018

Streaming is transforming music and TV business models, driving growth in both audiences and revenue. A balance between free and paid tiers and services has been key to this success, but, growth is not always balanced, and as we approach maturity in many western markets, more may be needed of free, ...

Cover image for Making Free Pay: Fine-tuning Freemium

Cover image for MIDiA Data Spotlight: Home Technology

MIDiA Data Spotlight: Home Technology
Ownership is Going Both Deep and Wide

Mark Mulligan

28 Sep 2018

Apple TV wireless speakers Amazon Echo

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. Figure 1: The Digital Home is Becoming Increasingly Sophisticated Household Ownership of Digital Technology, Q1 2018 The ‘digital home’ was a term that rose to prominence in the mid 2000s as the first generation of home router centred devices started...

Cover image for MIDiA Data Spotlight: Music Listening

MIDiA Data Spotlight: Music Listening
Car Leads the Way

Mark Mulligan

27 Sep 2018

music consumption music listening places of listening

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. Figure 1: Music Listening Mainly Happens on the Go Key Places of Listening to Music, Q1 2018 The car has long been one of the heartlands of music listening and remains so with 55% of consumers engaging in this activity.

Cover image for MIDiA Data Spotlight: Music Consumption

MIDiA Data Spotlight: Music Consumption
YouTube and Radio Lead the Pack

Mark Mulligan

26 Sep 2018

Radio YouTube free Streaming

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. Figure 1: YouTube and Radio Dominate Music Consumption Key Music Consumption and Purchasing Behaviour, Q1 2018 Music consumption and spending is more diversified than ever, with traditional formats still holding on to their loyal legacy audiences, while ...

Spotify’s Tencent Risk

Mark Mulligan

21 Sep 2018

Africa asia emerging markets

NOTE: a previous version of this post referred to a non-compete clause with Spotify detailed in this SEC filing. I have been advised that the scope of this clause is narrower than I had originally interpreted.

Cover image for Spotify’s Tencent Risk

Cover image for Quarterly Digital Content Trends: Q2 2018

Quarterly Digital Content Trends: Q2 2018

Mark Mulligan

18 Sep 2018

Streaming Streaming Music US

In this report, we present highlights of content trends from MIDiA’s Quarterly Brand Tracker, a survey fielded in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. This report explores how consumer behaviour evolved between Q2 2017 and Q2 2018 across music, video, games and social.

Article 13 – Laws of Unintended Consequences

Mark Mulligan

14 Sep 2018

Ad Supported article 13 Deezer

[If this was Medium, it would say ‘long read’ – you’ve been warned] I do not normally add disclaimers or qualifiers at the start of blog posts, but given how divisive the whole Article 13 debate has become, there is a big risk that some readers will make incorrect assumptions about my positi...

Mid-Year 2018 Streaming Market Shares

Mark Mulligan

13 Sep 2018

amazon music unlimited Amazon Prime Music Google

Music subscribers grew by 16% in the first half of 2018 to reach 229.5 million, up from 198.6 million at the end of 2017. Year-on-year the global subscriber base increased by 38%, adding 62.8 million subscribers.

Cover image for Mid-Year 2018 Streaming Market Shares

Cover image for Music Streaming Services Market Shares

Music Streaming Services Market Shares
H1 2018 Subscriber Share Update

Mark Mulligan

13 Sep 2018

Subscriptions Streaming Music Subscriptions

This report provides a global level mid-year update to MIDiA’s Music Subscriber Market Shares report, presenting H1 2018 figures. Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Amazon, Amazon Prime Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple, Apple Music,...

Cover image for Pandora

Pandora
Mapping Its Place in the US Streaming Market

Mark Mulligan

7 Sep 2018

Streaming Streaming Music Apple

Pandora is the granddaddy of streaming music, clocking 10 million active users before Spotify had even gone into public beta. It remains the most widely used audio streaming service in the US, but is no longer the golden child of the space. Despite having been long positioned as the long-term future of radio, investors have become increasingly conc...

How Streaming is Changing the Shape of Music [Part I]

Mark Mulligan

6 Sep 2018

[This is the first of two thought pieces on how streaming is reshaping music from creation to consumption] The streaming era has arrived in the music business, but the music business has not yet fully arrived in the streaming era.

Cover image for Streaming Services Market Shares 2.0

Streaming Services Market Shares 2.0

Mark Mulligan

30 Aug 2018

Subscriptions Subscriptions Streaming

This report includes the key findings of MIDiA’s Global Music Subscriber Market Share Model in which we present the subscribers, revenues and market shares of streaming services in more than 20 different countries. This report contains charts and analysis for 11 countries including consumer survey data, while the complete excel model is posted al...

State of the YouTube Music Economy 2.0: A Turning Point for All Parties

Mark Mulligan

24 Aug 2018

YouTube is the most widely used streaming music app globally but it is also the most controversial one, locked in a perpetual struggle with music rights holders, with neither side quite trusting the intent of the other.

Cover image for State of the YouTube Music Economy 2.0: A Turning Point for All Parties

Tech Majors Market Shares Q2 2018

Mark Mulligan

15 Aug 2018

Alphabet Apple Facebook

The tech world has no shortage of acronyms for the big tech companies (GAFA, GAAF, Fang, the four horsemen…). At MIDiA we like to keep things simple, just like the major record labels and major TV studios we call the big four tech companies the Tech Majors.

Cover image for Tech Majors Market Shares Q2 2018

Cover image for State of the YouTube Music Economy 2.0

State of the YouTube Music Economy 2.0
A Turning Point for All Parties

Mark Mulligan

14 Aug 2018

Streaming Streaming Music Spotify

This report is now into its second edition, updating the most comprehensive YouTube music dataset ever compiled in order to present all sides of the argument in an objective and impartial manner. The report provides an exhaustive view of the market for revenues, ad rates, stream rates, users, streams and subscribers.

Emerging Music Markets: Streaming’s Third Wave

Mark Mulligan

10 Aug 2018

baidu music China emerging markets

MIDiA has just published a new report that deep dives into how streaming is, or in some cases is not, lifting off in emerging markets. The regions we focused on were Russia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, China and India.

Cover image for Emerging Music Markets: Streaming’s Third Wave

Are Record Labels Facing an A&R Crisis?

Mark Mulligan

30 Jul 2018

a+r crisis ar Labels

A succession of conversations with record labels over the last couple of months has made me start to ponder whether we are approaching a tipping point in streaming era A&R. At the heart of the conversations is whether the growing role of playlists and the increased use of streaming analytics is ...

Cover image for Spotify Q2 2018 Earnings

Spotify Q2 2018 Earnings
More Needed from Emerging Markets and Ad Supported

Mark Mulligan

30 Jul 2018

Subscriptions Streaming Streaming Music

Spotify’s Q2 2018 earnings show continued solid progress across most of its performance metrics. However, investor scrutiny is intensifying, especially with the growing subscriber arms race in the US becoming — albeit incorrectly — perceived as a litmus test for global success.

© 2025 MIDiA Research Ltd. All Rights Reserved.