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.

MIDiA’s 2024 predictions: The algorithm is not listening

Cover image for MIDiA’s 2024 predictions: The algorithm is not listening
Mark Mulligan
midia predictions
2024 predictions
tech predictions
November is one of my favourite times of year, as an analyst anyways. Why? Because it is when the MIDiA team pool their collective brainpower to formulate our end-of-year predictions. What gives our predictions their unique angle is that they are constructed within an inter-connected framework, factoring in the cross-industry trends that will shape the coming years.
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MIDiA’s 2024 predictions report
The algorithm is not listening

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Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Perry Gresham, Kazia Rothwell and Ben Woods
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 consequences of years of innovation have resulted in environments where many consumers are getting further away from their wants and needs, not closer.
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Spotify re-positions two-tier licensing (we are getting closer, and it can be even better)

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Mark Mulligan
Two tier licensing
Streaming Royalties
Streaming
Spotify released a blog post laying out how it wants the world to understand its new two-tier royalty system. The positioning is clear, leading with the statement that it will drive “an additional $1 billion toward[s] emerging and professional artists” and the PR push included several supporting quotes from the independent sector (with no major label quote to be seen).
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Why artist subscriptions are the perfect partner to two-tier licensing

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Mark Mulligan
Streaming
Spotify
Podcasts
With two-tier licensing now a thing , it is time to focus the discussion on how to add new components to the DSP ecosystem that will help long-tail artists continue to thrive in this brave new world. There are many positives that two-tier licensing will bring (helping mid-tier artist remuneration, attaching an appropriate premium to lean-forward listening, etc.
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Two-tier licensing is about to become a reality

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Mark Mulligan
Streaming
Spotify
Streaming Royalties
With the dust still far from settled on the UMG / Deezer streaming royalty proposal, something even bigger is coming: Spotify is turning the concept into reality in Q1 2024. The behind-the-scenes conversations have been ongoing for some time, but the details were stated publicly on panels at last week’s ADE conference, meaning that the information is now firmly in the public domain.
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Latent potential
Japan music consumer user profile

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Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano
Music streaming
Audience Insight
This report presents MIDiA consumer data for key music behaviours of Japan’s consumers. The data covered includes streaming app usage, social app usage, key audio formats (radio, streaming, and podcasts), fandom / identity, and artist content. All data is from our Q1 2023 survey, fielded in US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Sweden, France, Germany, and UK.
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