Mark Mulligan | MIDiA Research

Music creators – we want your insight!

Mark Mulligan

22 Feb 2022

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 and creator-friendly music industry.

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Music creators
Slicing the funnel

Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

February 2022

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 catalysed an already growing realisation among long- and mid-tail artists that they lack the scale to benefit from streaming economics.

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

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 as it does business strategy, it is indisputable that there is a lot at stake for Spotify.

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

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 shift than binge watching, which is done by 60% of video subscribers.

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Spotify chose audio over music, but bigger decisions lie ahead

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, this was a highly public test of whether Spotify put audio or music first, and audio won.

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Music subscriber market shares Q2 2021

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 to grow strongly with 523.

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Hybrid futures
MIDiA 2022 predictions

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

January 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 ....

Bored Ape Yacht Club
BAYC cracks the code for NFT fandom

Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Srishti Das and Tatiana Cirisano

January 2022

Media and Marketing

NFT

Read the case study …

Fandom drivers
From fan psychology to NFT demand

Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Srishti Das and Tatiana Cirisano

January 2022

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, number of views, etc.) it is only the effects of fandom that can be quantified (number of likes / shares, merchandise sales, etc.

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

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, and major label revenues grew at unprecedented rates.

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Music market subscriber shares 2021
Growth is not letting up yet

Cover image for Music market subscriber shares 2021

Mark Mulligan

December 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 label trade revenue (from FY 2015 to FY 2020) for more than 20 streaming services across 34 different markets.

2022 MIDiA predictions: the year of the creator

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 do, we have also established a pretty good track record of success.

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

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 are underpinning this investment: Bruce Springsteen sold his catalogue to Sony Music for between...

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2022 MIDiA predictions
The year of the creator

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

December 2021

Creators

Apple

Spotify

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, brands, marketing, games, and sports in 2022 and beyond. Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Adele,...

Audiomack and the coming monetisation / remuneration tipping point

Mark Mulligan

8 Dec 2021

NFTs

digital collectibles

Creators

The music business is approaching a monetisation / remuneration tipping point. Long- and mid-tail creators are fast realising that, even with the most revolutionary of changes to royalty structures, streaming is never going to deliver enough income.

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Music market shares: independent labels and artists are even bigger than you thought

Mark Mulligan

3 Dec 2021

Independent labels

record label market shares

Major labels

It has been a long time since the music industry has been in such good shape. So long, in fact, that there are not too many executives left who worked through the pre-crash days. 2021 was the year in which the major label groups capitalised on the momentum, with Universal and Warner going public, an...

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Spotify Q3 2021 earnings
Premium matures as advertising accelerates

Cover image for Spotify Q3 2021 earnings

Mark Mulligan

November 2021

Spotify

Business Strategy

Spotify is in a transition phase. Monthly active user (MAU) growth bounced back, but user growth is in a mid-term slowdown phase while the business begins its transition to emerging markets and ad-based audio – with the latter showing more signs of movement than the former.

Karaoke app user deep dive

Mark Mulligan

November 2021

Streaming Music

apps

mobile apps

This report presents data concerning karaoke app users. This data is taken from MIDiA’s Q3 2021 consumer survey. The online survey comprised 9,000 respondents across the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Brazil, South Korea. All country level samples were nationally representative with a 1,000 sample in each market.

The attention economy after the lockdown boom

Mark Mulligan

25 Nov 2021

Attention economy

Attention

media consumption

The attention economy is the cornerstone of all entertainment businesses. Throughout the 2010s, it just grew and grew, with more and more digital entertainment options filling consumers’ downtime. Staring out of windows and being bored at bus stops was replaced by Netflix, Fortnite, Spotify, Insta...

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Attention economy
After the lockdown boom

Mark Mulligan

November 2021

Consumer behaviour

Streaming Music

Radio

The pandemic-triggered change in everyday life resulted in a boom in entertainment consumption, which, in turn, saw growth in emerging formats as well as a temporary rebound for traditional formats. As the world starts to ease back into pre-pandemic routines, much of this newly found entertainment time will go – but the declines will not be evenl...