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.

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DSP user profiles
Small is beautiful

Mark Mulligan

29 Nov 2022

Spotify YouTube Deezer

With streaming music now in its mature growth stage in most leading music markets, differentiation will be key to unlocking further growth pockets. While this will likely require innovation in both product and licensing, there are already clear signs that the streaming services are developing userbases with distinct and varied behaviours and charac...

Will the recession change Big Tech’s view on entertainment?

Mark Mulligan

25 Nov 2022

tech majors recession tech layoffs

Music start up Utopia just announced a round of layoffs , fitting into a much bigger dynamic that may reshape the entertainment landscape. There are many reasons why the coming global recession will be unique, but the one that is most relevant to the digital entertainment sector is that it is going ...

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Artists – take our survey and get a free MIDiA report

Mark Mulligan

15 Nov 2022

Artists Independent artists Artist survey

With 2022 coming to a close, and Spotify’s Wrapped just around the corner, artists are beginning to look back across the year at how they performed and what they have achieved, and whether it lines up with their hopes for the coming year.

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The coming long-tail cull

Mark Mulligan

8 Nov 2022

Artists direct the long tail independent creators

When governments plan to introduce controversial new policies, they prepare the ground in advance (dropping hints in speeches, privately briefing journalists, etc.), so that by the time the new policy finally arrives, it does not feel quite so controversial.

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Why Amazon Music is primed for success

Mark Mulligan

1 Nov 2022

Amazon Music Streaming Music DSPs

Amazon Music today announced that it was extending the number of songs available on its Prime Music tier from two million to one hundred million. It is kind of a big deal, but not that big a deal when you consider the actual value of these additional 98 million tracks.

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The music industry needs a new format

Mark Mulligan

20 Oct 2022

lean through music product strategy music formats

Non-DSP streaming was one of – arguably the – differences between steady growth and stellar growth for the music business in 2021. With three billion dollars of retail revenues in 2021, non-DSP has quickly become a key source of revenue, but not without bringing its own set of challenges .

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TikTok Music could change the game

Mark Mulligan

14 Oct 2022

TikTok Resso Music

There has been talk for some time now of TikTok parent ByteDance launching a music streaming service in Western markets. It already has Resso in Indonesia, India, and Brazil, but has spiked interest recently with trademark registrations, new Twitter accounts, and reports that ‘more than a dozen’...

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Label executives: take this survey and receive a free MIDiA report

Mark Mulligan

12 Oct 2022

Music Product Strategy

MIDiA is fielding a survey exploring the changing role of music streaming services in today’s music business and we want to hear your opinions. Specifically, we want to hear the opinions of record label executives.

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The creator economy’s post-lockdown growth

Mark Mulligan

6 Oct 2022

creator tools Creator economy Creators

The Covid pandemic created a unique catalyst for the music creator economy. More time on hands and more cash in pockets gave novices and veterans alike the opportunity to spend both more time and money making music.

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State of the music creator economy
Post-lockdown growth

Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

30 Sep 2022

Apple Spotify live

The Covid pandemic created a unique catalyst for the music creator economy. More time on hands and more cash in pockets gave novices and veterans alike the opportunity to spend both more time and money making music. Though the pandemic was a peak, it also marked the start of a new era for the music creator economy across every one of its aspects, f...

Time to jump off the algorithm highway

Mark Mulligan

30 Sep 2022

Music Cultural trends Marketing Strategy

Life is perpetual change, so it is perhaps overdoing it to suggest that the music business is at a cultural pivot point. Yet, what comes next has the potential to be looked at, years from now, as a dividing line between before and after.

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Cover image for NPR continues to capitalise on radio foundations in the podcast market

NPR continues to capitalise on radio foundations in the podcast market

Mark Mulligan, Keith Jopling, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

28 Sep 2022

Audio

Broadcast radio has a clear opportunity to further expand its traditional offerings in digital audio. By utilising its expertise in programming and content creation, radio can bring both its established audio audiences and reach a new generation of listeners through podcasts.

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Radio audiences
A window of opportunity

Mark Mulligan, Keith Jopling, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

25 Sep 2022

Streaming Music Spotify Radio

Streaming claimed radio’s younger, music-focused audiences while podcasts are now beginning to do the same for older, spoken-word audiences. However, it is not yet determined that the impact needs to be as disruptive for radio companies. With radio audience declines slowing, and even experiencing a modest rebound, a window of opportunity exists f...

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Entertainment and the recession
How it will be impacted and how it should respond

Mark Mulligan

25 Sep 2022

Spotify Amazon Netflix

The world is facing a period of change and disruption that is unprecedented in modern times. With so many interconnected dynamics across consumer spending, economic cycles, the climate, and even geo-politics, consumer behaviours and spending will undoubtedly be impacted.

WMG is moving beyond superstars – and that is a good thing

Mark Mulligan

16 Sep 2022

Fandom fragmented fandom Streaming

Warner Music Group’s ( WMG’s) Steve Cooper recently stated that the major is no longer financially dependent on superstars – which is, of course, quite a different thing from not being culturally dependent on them, but we’ll get to that.

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C.R.E.A.T.E. An entertainment manifesto

Mark Mulligan

12 Sep 2022

Media and Marketing Business Strategy

When we first formed MIDiA eight years ago, we saw the new entertainment world was going to require a new joined up approach for entertainment businesses. With the start of the ascent of the smartphone we made an intellectual bet that everything was going to become more interconnected, inter-depende...

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Web 3.0 is a lane, not a highway

Mark Mulligan

2 Sep 2022

web 3.0 metaverse Blockchain

Facebook was not the first web 2.0 company, but it was the one that took it mainstream to a global audience. Consumers’ digital lives would never be the same again. Whereas web 1.0 had enabled them to visit and read websites, much like a digital evolution of newspapers and magazines, Facebook enab...

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Inside the growing scene of neoperreo

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

31 Aug 2022

Music

Neoperreo represents an up-and-coming scene that is driven by a music genre, but it is identified as much for as its sound as it is for its visual aesthetic, values, practices, and other layers. The neoperreo subgenre is a reaction to what its members view as the ‘mainstreaming’ of reggaeton, as well as the fact that reggaeton is dominated by m...

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A tale of two album releases
Gunna and The Weeknd

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

31 Aug 2022

Music

In the on-demand streaming era, music consumption is increasingly fragmented. Consumers are spreading out their listening across varying artists and songs, and personalised recommendations algorithms are pushing them further into niches. Superstars still exist, but their impact is lessening.

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Scenes
A new lens for music marketing

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

30 Aug 2022

Spotify YouTube Facebook

Entertainment consumption and fandom are fragmenting in the internet era as a result of the steady erosion of linear audiences, the rise of asynchronous consumption, and the increased sophistication of personalisation algorithms. Consequently, identity and culture are fragmenting as well.

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