Zach Fuller | MIDiA Research

AI and the Disruption of the Music Persona

Zach Fuller

22 Mar 2019

Discussions on AI and music continue to grip the music industry, with fears we stand on the precipice of a post-musician world, yet in many ways we have been here before. History dictates that shifts in...

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SXSW 2019: Streaming, Radio and the Unevenly Distributed Future

Zach Fuller

18 Mar 2019

sxsw

Technology

Uncategorised

‘The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed’. In many ways, this quote by science fiction writer William Gibson surmises the work we do at MIDiA: cautiously observing new tech developments...

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Music Publishing as an Asset Class Could Be the Recorded Industry’s Next Big Growth Story, But How Will it Impact the Overall Business?

Zach Fuller

7 Mar 2019

‘ Money doesn’t talk, it swears’ – Bob Dylan, 1965 For most of their history, music royalties have operated under a nebulous framework of rights owners and collection societies with staggered...

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Sampling and Streaming: De La Soul’s Catalogue Disputes and Streaming Economics

Zach Fuller

28 Feb 2019

Critical Developments

De La Soul’s seminal early albums, including 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul is Dead , have been among the more notable holdouts from streaming services. Major artists such as Prince and Led Zeppelin...

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Direct Distribution: Breakthrough or Bust for SoundCloud?

Zach Fuller

22 Feb 2019

It has been a strange few years for SoundCloud. Since its emergence out of the Berlin tech scene of the late 2000s, it struggled to convert its popularity with creators into a commercially viable business,...

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Are Prices For Music Publishing Catalogue Acquisitions Justified?

Zach Fuller

15 Feb 2019

Media and Marketing

Scooter Braun and Zach Katz’s venture Raised In Space Enterprises, owned by Braun’s Ithica Holdings, announced last week it had acquired New York-basedAtlas Music Publishing. The deal was the latest...

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Thoughts on Spotify’s Acquisition of Gimlet Media and Anchor

Zach Fuller

6 Feb 2019

Amazon Alexa

Anchor

apple homepod

Spotify is reported to have purchased the podcast companies Gimlet Media and Anchor. Having only just reported an operating profit for the first time, the deals demonstrate not only how Spotify is still...

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Music Publishing Acquisitions
Bubble Business or Sustainable Market?

Cover image for Music Publishing Acquisitions

Zach Fuller

February 2019

Apple

Spotify

Warner Chappel

Music publishing mergers and acquisitions have boomed in recent years, invigorated by streaming’s user growth and the multitude of revenue options becoming available outside of music sales, such as micro...

Lessons from the Disruption of News Publishing

Zach Fuller

1 Feb 2019

Digital Media

Media

new publishing

At the 2019 DLD conference in Munich, various media commentators were suggesting that the attention economy paradigm of news mean ominous clouds are gathering not just over new media entities such as BuzzFeed,...

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Music Tech and Unintended Consequences

Zach Fuller

23 Jan 2019

Innovation

Media

Recent discussions over how music will look in the app economy, with services such as TikTok effectively ‘meme-ing’ the concept of music and emphasising its social context, has led me to reflect on...

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An Alternative View: Why Apple Will Not Be a Service-Based Company

Zach Fuller

20 Jan 2019

Apple’s announcement of smartphone slowdown a few weeks back sent waves through the tech-centric investment landscape. Various requiems seem to suggest that with the stock price dropping 12%, the darkest...

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What a 19th Century Art Movement Tells Us About the Future of Technology

Zach Fuller

11 Jan 2019

A classic manoeuvre in business strategy, exalted by the famed investor Warren Buffett, is building a moat. The premise is that the value of a business can be determined by the barriers to entry it creates...

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Quarterly Digital Content Trends: Q3 2018

Zach Fuller

December 2018

Apple

Spotify

Amazon

In this report, we present highlights of content trends from MIDiA’s Quarterly Brand Tracker, a survey fielded in the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Germany Sweden and Australia. The report explores...

Media Musings: Who Will Buy Snap Inc?

Zach Fuller

14 Dec 2018

Disney

Evan Spiegel

Media

As outlined in our 2019 forecasting report, MIDiA predicts that Snap Inc. as we know it will be no more by the end of 2019. Its most notable asset Snapchat still has a sizeable audience among younger demographics...

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MIDiA Research Predictions 2019

Alistair Taylor, Georgia Meyer, Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Zach Fuller

November 2018

Apple

Spotify

Video

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech, across music, video, media, brands, marketing, games and sports in 2019. Key...

What UMG and Boomplay's Deal Tells Us About the Future of African Streaming

Zach Fuller

6 Nov 2018

african streaming

boomplay

Streaming

Universal Music Group have announced today they will be signing a landmark licensing agreement with Boomplay, Africa’s leading music streaming and download service, in a deal that covers multiple markets...

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How Are Modern Media Subscription Services Building Competitive Advantages Against Traditional Media?

Zach Fuller

29 Oct 2018

media business models

media finance

Streaming

Media, with its creative nature, often likes to define itself as distinct from other industries, and yet it is governed by many of the same principles that shape other areas of commerce. With the shift...

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Streaming Media Consumption
Video Leads The Way

Cover image for Streaming Media Consumption

Zach Fuller

October 2018

Subscriptions

Streaming

Apple

In this report, we present highlights of content trends from MIDiA’s Quarterly Brand Tracker, a survey fielded in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. This report explores how consumer behaviour evolved...

Quick Take: Will Stream Djing be the Renaissance of Soundcloud?

Zach Fuller

19 Oct 2018

SoundCloud

Music

After a difficult two yearsthat saw acquisitions fall through and a lack of meaningful uptake of its subscription service, SoundCloud have needed some positive news. Reveredwithin the creator community...

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Facebook Launches Its Smart Speaker: A Few Strategic Considerations For Portal

Zach Fuller

9 Oct 2018

Amazon Echo

apple home pod

echo dot

Earlier this year, MIDiA predicted that Facebook would join the smart speaker market. A TV dongle or smart speaker: It makes strategic sense for Facebook to develop a TV dongle like Amazon’s Fire Stick...

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