Mark is MIDiA’s founder and part of the music analyst team. He covers everything from market shares, to forecasts, to business models and product strategy across the music value chain.

Fake artists are what happens when fandom dies

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

7 Apr 2022

Music

Cultural Trends

The topic of ‘fake artists’ refuses to go away . For those who have been on Mars for the last couple of years, fake artists refer to artists who release under a streaming pen name but do not build...

Read more …

Did independents really do three times worse than the majors in 2021?

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

22 Mar 2022

Music

Business Strategy

Today, the IFPI released its estimates for the global recorded music market, with reported revenues of $25.9 billion. Last year, the IFPI estimated global revenues to be $21.6 billion (note that the IFPI...

Read more …

Recorded music market shares 2021 – Red letter year

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2022

Record music market

global music revenues

label trade revenues 2021

We suggested back in 2020, that 2021 was going to be a strong year for the recorded music market. As it turns out, 2021 was the fastest growing year in living memory, with growth across most formats, contrasting...

Read more …

Recorded music market 2021
Red letter year

Report by Mark Mulligan

17 Mar 2022

£5,000.00 excl. VAT

Streaming Music

recorded music

independent labels

The 20,000 foot view MIDiA suggested in 2020 that 2021 was going to be a strong year for the recorded music market. Indeed, 2021 turned out to be the fastest-growing year in living memory, with growth...

Read more …

Why Dolly Parton may want to wait before selling her catalogue

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

10 Mar 2022

Music

Cultural Trends

In a recent interview with the BBC, Dolly Parton said that she is considering selling her publishing catalogue, stating that she would simply launch a new publishing company and start all over again. On...

Read more …

Epic Games, Bandcamp, and fandom for the ‘me’ generation

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

3 Mar 2022

Music

Games

Cultural Trends

Honestly, it has been a struggle to find the inspiration to write a blog post about the music industry, considering what is going on in the world at the moment. But along came this story, which is eye...

Read more …

Audio audiences
Steady change

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

28 Feb 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

Radio

radio audiences

music radio

This report is the first preview of our new research vertical for Audio, to be formally launched later this year. Podcasts reinvigorated the audio market, bringing with it the promise of a ‘Netflix...

Read more …

Music creators – we want your insight!

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

22 Feb 2022

Music

Audience Insight

Beyond our role in analysing, reporting, predicting, and consulting within music and media, MIDiA is a team of people - many of us creators too - who are committed to making a fairer, more sustainable...

Read more …

Music creators
Slicing the funnel

Report by Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

18 Feb 2022

£5,000.00 excl. VAT

YouTube

Soundcloud

tunecore

Streaming enabled the rise of the independent artist and then the rise of the music creator. The promise of the long tail finally appeared to be realised. But the pandemic’s disruption of live music...

Read more …

Why Spotify cannot afford to make it three out of three with podcasts

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

10 Feb 2022

Spotify

Podcasts

Joe Rogan

It has been a couple of weeks that Spotify would be glad to forget – if it could. Although many of the arguments have been emotionally charged and the debate says as much about people’s political beliefs...

Read more …

From binging to burnout: the creator economy’s fault line

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

8 Feb 2022

Music

Cultural Trends

The streaming revolution has been built upon audience choice and control, replacing linear with on-demand and in turn opening whole new consumption paradigms. No user behaviour better encapsulates this...

Read more …

Spotify chose audio over music, but bigger decisions lie ahead

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

27 Jan 2022

Spotify

Podcasts

Joe Rogan

The symbolism behind Spotify’s support of Neil Young removing his music from the platform, rather than Joe Rogan’s podcast being removed for peddling vaccine misinformation was inescapable. For many,...

Read more …

Music subscriber market shares Q2 2021

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

18 Jan 2022

subscriber market shares

streaming market shares

market shares

MIDiA’s annual music subscriber market shares report is now available here (see below for more details of the report). Here are some of the key findings. The global base of music subscribers continues...

Read more …

Hybrid futures
MIDiA 2022 predictions

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Srishti Das, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

13 Jan 2022

Free Report

social media

Business Strategy

MIDiA Research Predictions

MIDiA analysts dive into our 2022 predictions, and why we believe it will be ' the year of the creator '. Watch the webinar here ....

Read more …

Bored Ape Yacht Club
BAYC cracks the code for NFT fandom

Case Study

Case Study by Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Srishti Das and Tatiana Cirisano

11 Jan 2022

Media and Marketing

NFT

Read the case study …

Fandom drivers
From fan psychology to NFT demand

Report by Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Srishti Das and Tatiana Cirisano

9 Jan 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

superfan

Spotify

merchandise

Fandom is entertainment’s growth currency, yet it remains both under-valued and poorly understood. While other entertainment currencies can be accurately measured (number of streams, number of sales,...

Read more …

Major label revenue surged in 2021, but what does that mean?

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

7 Jan 2022

Major labels

Streaming

music revenues

Major label revenue surged in 2021, but what does that mean? 2021 was an anomalous year for the recorded music market. Two of the majors did an IPO, the pandemic continued to disrupt the marketplace,...

Read more …

Music market subscriber shares 2021
Growth is not letting up yet

Report by Mark Mulligan

22 Dec 2021

Subscriptions

Streaming

Music Subscriptions

This report presents key figures from MIDiA’s global music subscriber market shares model. The full dataset is published alongside this report, with quarterly data (from Q4 2015 to Q1 2021) and annual...

Read more …

2022 MIDiA predictions: the year of the creator

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

20 Dec 2021

midia predictions

MIDiA Research Predictions

Media and Marketing

With 2021 nearly behind us, and 2022 fast approaching, it is that of year for the MIDiA predictions report. We have been publishing our predictions reports since 2016, and apart from being good fun to...

Read more …

What BandLab and Bruce Springsteen tell us about the music business at the end of 2021

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

17 Dec 2021

music catalogues

creator tools

creator economy

2021 was another year in which capital continued to flow into the music business at pace. Two deals that got over the line before year end have shone an interesting light on the differing strategies that...

Read more …