CD Baby’s ‘Stages’ can serve both passion and professionalism
CD Baby’s ‘Stages’ can serve both passion and professionalism
Tatiana Cirisano
Tatiana is Vice President of Music Strategy at MIDiA. Prior to this, she served as a music business reporter for Billboard, where she wrote award-winning industry analysis as well as cover stories on artists like Tame Impala and Alicia Keys. Throughout her work she is dedicated to publishing fresh perspectives that drive the music industry forward, with an emphasis on fandom and consumer behaviour.
Why AI music may make fandom even more important
Artificial intelligence (AI) was as hot a topic as ever at last week’s SXSW conference, where debate swirled around how human artists will compete with AI-generated music. As more parts of music-making involve AI assistance, this distinction between “AI” and “human” music may soon become as irrelevant as music created on a laptop versus recorded in a studio.
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The AI entertainment revolution
How artificial intelligence will reshape media consumption
2023 has been jump-started by rapid progression in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). From the launch of ChatGPT to AI-powered DJs, this technology is revolutionising common practices, impacting consumers, creators, and industry leaders alike.
AI use cases in the entertainment industry
Electric Sheep, Mubert, Unreal Engine 5, Descript, Uhmbrella, and My AI
Spotify’s vertical feed could change music discovery, but not for the reason you think
Just a few years ago, Spotify’s Rap Caviar playlist was a harbinger for culture. But a lot has changed. Artists want (and need) to build deeper relationships with fans, and gen Z consumers want more active content experiences.
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Streaming is becoming more like radio — what now?
Last week, both YouTube Music and Spotify launched new, radio-like features. Spotify introduced an AI-powered voice DJ, which will talk to users about why songs are included in personalised mixes. Meanwhile, YouTube Music is giving users more ways to customise streaming radio stations — they can now choose up to 30 artists, and specify things like genre, artist frequency, and the balance of chosen artists versus new recommendations.
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Music’s Instagram moment
The social music creation revolution
Social media has steadily integrated music, and music creation tools have steadily become more social. These trends are converging, accelerated by shifts in consumer behaviour and artificial intelligence (AI). The result could be a new set of music creation and re-creation tools, integrated within social platforms and geared towards casual consumers.
Artiphon’s Minibeats brings social music creation to Snapchat
Should streaming take a cue from TikTok’s revamped creator program?
A year ago, VidCon co-founder and vlogger Hank Green posted a viral YouTube video lambasting TikTok’s $1 billion Creator Fund, claiming it delivered chump change to videos with millions of views. The issue, he explained, was that the pool of funds was static — so the more that TikTok’s creator base grew, the less everyone made.
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Year of change
Themes that will shape entertainment in 2023
This report deep dives into the themes identified in MIDiA’s 2023 predictions report. These themes will drive innovation in the digital entertainment landscape in 2023 across music, video, games, audio, cultural trends, and the creator economy. Expect 2023 to be a of period significant disruption and innovation forced upon the digital entertainment industry, as nearly two decades of uninterrupted growth makes way for consumer-led disruption that is driven by a reduction in discretionary spending, attention, and willingness to make do with tired old formats.
At the Grammys and Super Bowl, the last hurrah of the mainstream era
Rihanna’s performance at the Super Bowl LVII over the weekend was remarkable for several reasons, but most of all was that she had not performed a show at this scale in seven long years. “The wait is almost over”, Apple Music’s Ebro Darden teased in promotions leading up to the big night, and the wait simply being over arguably mattered more than whatever Rihanna decided to do onstage.
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With its Australia experiment, TikTok gives the music industry the ultimate test
Licensing negotiations between platforms and the music industry come down to one question: which side needs the other more? The more that TikTok needs hit music to attract users, the more leverage the music industry (meaning labels and publishers) gains.
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Kill the campaign
Music marketing needs branding, not direct response
The debate over a new streaming royalties regime is capturing attention, but economics will not fix the underlying paradigm shifts that are the true cause for streaming’s problems: there is not enough money to go around for the ballooning amount of music on streaming services, and passive consumption is the new norm.
How brand building freed Fred again.. from the song economy
Could AI generate music’s Instagram moment?
Pop quiz: Is the hit ‘Kill Bill’ sung by SZA or Ariana Grande? The answer is, of course, SZA, but TikTok users could be forgiven for any confusion. An artificial-intelligence-generated version sung in Grande’s voice has been circulating the platform, causing a frenzy.
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What comes next in the music streaming model makeover
The independent music community has been rallying for change to the streaming payment model for years. Now, major labels are joining the chorus. Why? The pro-rata model has long benefited bigger record labels, but their cut of the pie is now diminishing due to a number of factors: The growth of independent music, fragmentation of consumption, localisation of music scenes, and the vast amount of music hitting streaming services.
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Music discovery in 2023 is about the journey, not the moment
Oversaturation was among the hottest music industry topics of 2022. By now, we have all read — and maybe gasped at — the recent estimate that more than 100,000 new songs hit streaming services daily.
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Pivot point
MIDiA 2023 predictions
MIDiA analysts dive into our 2023 predictions, and why we believe it will be the ' pivot point '. Watch the webinareither on YouTube or LinkedIn ....
Nightlife in the new normal
Remote work shifts the entertainment balance
Coronavirus pandemic work patterns are now ingrained in the United States, where 42% of consumers work from home and a fifth are hybrid workers. In the ‘new normal’, home workers spend less time on both digital and in-person entertainment compared to those who commute.
Music discovery snapshot Q3 2022
Fandom under threat
Despite the hyper-saturated music landscape, music discovery is generally not a problem for most consumers. Gen Z and millennials have similar music discovery habits, but gen Z struggle slightly more with discovery and are more influenced by TikTok, while millennials are perhaps the last generation to see radio as a main source of music discovery.