Olivia Jones

Prior to joining MIDiA, Olivia graduated from New York University with an MA in Music Business, where she specialised in the intersection of fandom and the music industry. She is committed to exploring different perspectives and helping the music industry grow.

Cover image for All eyes, no ears

All eyes, no ears
Why virality is not building fandom

Mark Mulligan, Hanna Kahlert, Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano and Olivia Jones

16 Sep 2025

Free Report

Music discovery Business Strategy

Over the last five years, labels and artists have invested in social media, betting that a steady stream of artist content and influencer campaigns will engineer virality. The theory is simple: virality leads to streams, streams lead to fandom, and fandom leads to long-term, sustainable artist careers.

Cover image for Defining entertainment superfans

Defining entertainment superfans
Characteristics, categories, and commercial impact

Olivia Jones and Laura Fisher

15 Sep 2025

France Australia Spotify

Superfans represent a highly valuable yet consistently underleveraged audience segment for the entertainment industry. What drives this disconnect is the fact that – despite frequent anecdotal use of the term – a standardised, empirical definition remains absent, preventing companies from systematically identifying, nurturing, and monetising th...

How KPop Demon Hunters cracked the fandom code

Olivia Jones

4 Sep 2025

Fandom Netflix Music

KPop Demon Hunters has taken the world by storm. With 266 million all-time views (at time of writing), it is currently Netflix's most-watched film ever . That’s not to mention the success of its soundtrack – four songs from the film are in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 , with breakout hit “Gold...

Cover image for How KPop Demon Hunters cracked the fandom code

What is the value of a stream in 2025?

Olivia Jones

31 Jul 2025

Product Strategy Streaming Streaming Music

More parties than ever are becoming frustrated with streaming. For evenmany successful artists, streaming is a minority income stream, as fandom-related endeavours like live performances, merchandise, and brand deals prove to be more lucrative.

Cover image for What is the value of a stream in 2025?

Cover image for Songwriter survey 2025

Songwriter survey 2025
Reinvention

Tatiana Cirisano and Olivia Jones

10 Jul 2025

songwriters songwriters Audience Insight

Songwriters face many of the same issues as artists – and are often doubly impacted by them. The struggle to earn meaningful streaming income is chief among these challenges, yet songwriters do not have the same fallback options, such as merchandise and touring, as artists do.

Why fandom’s ‘more is more’ era could backfire

Olivia Jones

9 Jul 2025

Marketing Strategy Fandom Social media

‘Less is more’ has long been a pillar of entertainment marketing strategy, promoting the importance of quality over quantity. However, in the past decade, the new phrase has effectively become “more is more” as all forms of entertainment push to release as much content as possible, as often ...

Cover image for Why fandom’s ‘more is more’ era could backfire

Why HYBE expanding into China is a bigger deal than you think

Olivia Jones

17 Jun 2025

Business Strategy Music streaming Fandom

Korean and Chinese labels have been a hot topic in the news lately. First, HYBE sold its entire 9.38% stake in fellow South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment to Chinese music streaming giant Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) for approximately $177 million USD (per Music Business Worldwid...

Cover image for Why HYBE expanding into China is a bigger deal than you think

What Western DSPs can learn from Tencent Music’s SVIP Tier

Olivia Jones

29 May 2025

Business Strategy Music streaming Fandom

Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) has had a lucrative Q1 2025, with Super VIP (SVIP) subscriptions driving revenue growth. According to the company’s earnings report, music subscription revenue grew 16.

Cover image for What Western DSPs can learn from Tencent Music’s SVIP Tier

Cover image for Label services vendor landscape

Label services vendor landscape
Rise of the atomised label

Olivia Jones

13 May 2025

Innovation Labels Artists

The label services sector has emerged as a way for independent labels to provide artists with best-in-class tools without having to build those tools in-house. This shift towards atomised labels has created a new opportunity for label service vendors to establish a stronghold in the music industry.

Music discovery is not dead, just evolving – the industry needs to evolve with it

Olivia Jones

9 May 2025

Audience Insight Music streaming Social media

Music streaming algorithms have changed the way we listen to music – for better and for worse. While the radio used to be the main way to find new music, streaming and social algorithms now drive discovery as listeners crave (and have come to expect) more personalised recommendations.

Cover image for Music discovery is not dead, just evolving – the industry needs to evolve with it

Cover image for Music catalogue market 2.0

Music catalogue market 2.0
Bringing yesterday’s hits into the business of tomorrow

Tatiana Cirisano and Olivia Jones

6 May 2025

BMG Round Hill Music T-pain

The music catalogue acquisition market bounced back from a slightly cooled 2023 with a new fever in 2024. What is being bought is changing, however, as investors look to diversify their portfolios and uncover new growth pockets in an increasingly crowded market.

Cover image for Pophouse

Pophouse
Redefining catalogue investment for the fan economy

Tatiana Cirisano and Olivia Jones

6 May 2025

Fandom Star Wars Business Strategy

The music catalogue acquisition market is shifting towards name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights, as investors recognise that with wider rights ownership comes new opportunities to actively build value – rather than just passively collecting income.

How economic volatility will impact US labels’ fandom monetisation push

Olivia Jones

25 Apr 2025

Business Strategy Music US

It has been an eventful few weeks for the global economy, to put it mildly. Since President Trump’s initial announcement calling for a universal baseline tariff on foreign imports to the US at the beginning of this month, global financial markets have been in flux, affecting nearly every sector fr...

Cover image for How economic volatility will impact US labels’ fandom monetisation push

Everyone wants to monetise fandom – but we must fix fan data first

Olivia Jones

4 Apr 2025

Fandom Streaming SoundCloud

Key takeaways from this blog: Fandom monetisation is booming, with MIDiA data showing how expanded rights is growing, driving labels to prioritise direct control over fan data instead of relying on third-party platforms.

Cover image for Everyone wants to monetise fandom – but we must fix fan data first

Cover image for Music subscriber market shares Q4 2024

Music subscriber market shares Q4 2024
Full stream ahead

Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano, Mark Qi, Olivia Jones and Laura Fisher

27 Mar 2025

music subscriber market shares Business Strategy

Streaming market metrics are bifurcating. Label streaming revenues were up in 2024, indicating a much anticipated slow down in revenue growth. Yet, at the same time, music subscriber growth was nearly double that of label streaming revenues for 2024. As is so often the case, there are many factors at play.

Cover image for Music discovery snapshot Q4 2024

Music discovery snapshot Q4 2024
Breaking through the noise

Olivia Jones

20 Mar 2025

Streaming Marketing Artists

Breaking through the noise is more important than ever for artists. As passive listening grows, facilitating active discovery has become a challenge. On top of this, the way consumers discover music is changing (and fragmenting) as streaming plays a weaker role in music discovery, overshadowed by YouTube and social media for younger consumers.

How the DNA of a hit changed in the last five years

Olivia Jones

14 Mar 2025

Cultural trends Music Music streaming

Key insights from this blog: The second installment of MIDiA's "DNA of a hit" blog series looks at how the hits on Billboard's Top 10 chart have changed in the last five years Key MIDiA data highlights the struggles for songwriters and the importance of YouTube for music consumption We predict that ...

Cover image for How the DNA of a hit changed in the last five years

How to build a strong fanbase using identity resonance

Olivia Jones

27 Feb 2025

Fandom Streaming Music

As entertainment consumption fragments, superstars dominate less, with fans gravitating towards ever-multiplying niches. This trend, alongside the maturation of streaming subscription growth, is driving record labels’ renewed focus on nurturing – and monetising – core bases of superfans.

Cover image for How to build a strong fanbase using identity resonance

Cover image for The superfans of music superstars

The superfans of music superstars
Identity and cut-through

Olivia Jones

17 Feb 2025

Labels US Artists

Fandom is becoming the music industry’s golden goose, with labels focusing on building and monetising superfan bases for their top artists. However, superfan behaviours are changing in response to oversaturation and hyper-fragmentation. What once worked for measuring and monetising fandom will not work the same in the future.

Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences

Olivia Jones

12 Feb 2025

Fandom Spotify Streaming

Much of the recent discussion around music superfan monetisation has focused on online superfans, especially as more superstars join fan platforms like Weverse. These monetisation strategies capitalise on fans’ growing desire for artist-fan interaction but often rely on artists’ active participa...

Cover image for Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences

© 2025 MIDiA Research Ltd. All Rights Reserved.