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Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Why dedicated fans are trading infinite choice for trusted curation

Laura Fisher

16 Jul 2026

Audience Insight Streaming Radio

The story of digital music has been one of expanding choice. Streaming's initial proposition was for the crate-diggers – a way of bringing the passion of music discovery into the digital age. However, the number of passive listeners on DSPs quickly outnumbered dedicated fans and the model optimise...

4 min read

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The biggest album launches happen off streaming – here’s how it can win them back

Olivia Jones

15 Jul 2026

Marketing Strategy Spotify TikTok

Album marketing rollouts are moving to centre stage as a growing number of artists and labels incorporate interactive experiences into their digital album promotions. For example, with Olivia Rodrigo’s recent release you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love , TikTok launched an in-app experience ...

3 min read

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Gender inequity in creative industries is a structural problem. It's time we addressed it like one

Laura Fisher

10 Jul 2026

Cultural trends Artists Music

Gender inequity in creative industries is often treated as a series of one-off incidents – individual acts of bias, isolated pay gaps, or a singular unsafe workspace. This fragmented view is, itself, part of the problem.

4 min read

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The future of the music creator economy

Mark Mulligan

9 Jul 2026

Audience Insight Streaming Creators

AI is a black swan event for music, intertwining the futures of the creator economy and the music industry. The number of gen AI music monthly active users (MAUs) nearly tripled between 2023 and 2025, adding nearly nine times as many users as the global base of musicians over the same period.

5 min read

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Social media first principles: What it takes to go beyond the algorithm

Hanna Kahlert

8 Jul 2026

Business Strategy Social media Creators

The formula for success on social platforms changes regularly, much to the frustration of emerging creators and marketers alike. This is a natural consequence of content saturation. The moment the code gets cracked and everyone follows the same rulebook, that rulebook stops delivering anything that ...

4 min read

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Instagram’s aging userbase: Why the under-16 social ban could be an advantage

Hanna Kahlert

3 Jul 2026

Clients only

Audience Insight Social media Social

Australia’s social media ban for under-16s has set off a domino effect. The UK has announced a social ban of its own set for Spring 2027, with many other countries also considering measures On the surface, the under-16s bans will simply cause teens to wait until they are old enough to make account...

4 min read

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AI attitudes by DSP: See which platform’s users embrace AI the most – and why

Tatiana Cirisano

2 Jul 2026

Clients only

Audience Insight Streaming Music streaming

Over the last few weeks, much has been written about music streaming platforms’ approaches to AI transparency, moderation, and adoption, which are often vastly different . Just as DSPs differ in their approaches to AI, it turns out that their userbases differ widely on their attitudes towards th...

6 min read

Cover image for AI attitudes by DSP: See which platform’s users embrace AI the most – and why

Now’s the time to have your say: Audio creator survey still open

Laura Fisher

1 Jul 2026

Audience Insight Creators Audio creators

The response to MIDiA's audio creator survey has been brilliant, so thank you to everyone who has already taken part. But, if you haven't yet, there's still time to have your say. Following a successful first year, we're back and once again inviting spoken-word audio creators to share their experien...

2 min read

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Why now is the time for the creator right

Mark Mulligan

26 Jun 2026

Business Strategy Creators Artists

YouTube’s Lyor Cohen and the Recording Academy’s Harvey Mason Jr. recently penned an op-ed for Variety in which they made the case for the NO FAKES act being seen as the starting pistol rather than the finish line.

4 min read

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Understanding the significance of a play: What the AMP’s new measurement framework means for the audio industry

Laura Fisher

25 Jun 2026

Clients only

Audience Insight Spotify Creators

Podcasting has spent much of the last decade trying to prove its value through metrics inherited from a fundamentally different era of digital media. That era may finally be coming to an end. On 4 June, the Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP), an industry task force established to address g...

3 min read

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Video creation has never been easier – so why does it feel harder? Share your experience in our survey

Ben Woods

24 Jun 2026

Audience Insight Creators Creator economy

There has never been a better time to make video. The barriers to creation have collapsed. Editing software that once cost thousands is available on subscription. AI can generate transcripts, captions, thumbnails, clips, and even entire video sequences.

2 min read

Cover image for Video creation has never been easier – so why does it feel harder? Share your experience in our survey

What do young people do without the doomscroll? Why social media bans present an opportunity

Hanna Kahlert

23 Jun 2026

Cultural trends Fandom Social media

The United Kingdom is set to enact bans on social media for under 16s by spring 2027, with further restrictions for 16 and 17-year-olds under consideration. It will also likely affect how adults use social platforms as age verification measures and algorithmic adjustments take place.

4 min read

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Superfandom in an anti-social media world

Kriss Thakrar

19 Jun 2026

Clients only

Fandom Streaming Social media

For the past five years, TikTok and digital reach have largely dictated music marketing. For many artists, success has meant being an influencer first and an artist second. The idea of “ 1000 true fans ” shifted from cultivating a dedicated audience willing to buy tickets for your shows to focus...

3 min read

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Social versus sponsorship: brand building in 2026

Hanna Kahlert

17 Jun 2026

Marketing Strategy Fandom Social media

Social media is the go-to form of marketing in the digital age, resulting in a predicted combined $737.1 billion in annual revenue by 2031 per MIDiA’s forecast . It’s not hard to see why: social offers quick returns and easy measurement, including reach, time spent, click-through rates, and purc...

4 min read

Music subscriber market shares Q4 2025: The chess board is set

Tatiana Cirisano

15 Jun 2026

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

Global music streaming subscribers grew 10.1% to reach 921.6 million in 2025, according to MIDiA’s just-published music subscriber market shares report . While growth slowed compared to 2024, it remained in the double digits, with the 1 billion subscriber landmark now firmly in sight.

3 min read

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Atomised concentration: How streaming ensures the house always wins

Mark Mulligan

12 Jun 2026

Clients only

Business Strategy Streaming Artists

There is an apparent paradox in today’s streaming-dominated music market: major labels are losing share (on a distribution basis) yet long-tail indies are finding it ever harder to achieve scale. So, is the trend fragmentation or concentration? The perplexing answer is that it is both.

4 min read

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Calling all audio creators: Take our survey and help shape the future of spoken-word audio

Laura Fisher

11 Jun 2026

Audience Insight Creators Audio

After a successful first year , MIDiA's audio creator survey is back. We are once again inviting spoken-word audio creators to share their experiences and help build a better understanding of this rapidly growing creator segment.

2 min read

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Vertical TV is more than streaming’s TikTok moment

Ben Woods

10 Jun 2026

Product Strategy TikTok Streaming

Streaming TV services are entering a new phase of smartphone competition. For years, their strategic focus has been on content depth: exclusive shows, premium originals, and sports rights. Yet on mobile, the battle for engagement is increasingly shaped by experience as much as content.

3 min read

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K-pop fans are not “one size fits all”: Comparing fans in US and South Korea

Olivia Jones

4 Jun 2026

Clients only

Fandom Business Strategy Streaming

K-pop has had a banner year, with the genre earning multiple Grammy nominations,along with the massive success of Kpop Demon Hunters . As K-pop’s dedicated fans dominate the global stage, they are often seen as the definition of “superfans”, with artists and labels chasing similar levels of fa...

5 min read

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The renewed value of maximalism in the era of AI

Laura Fisher

3 Jun 2026

Product Strategy Creators Entertainment

The infrastructure of entertainment consumption has never felt more feudalistic. Distribution, discovery, and monetisation increasingly operate through a small number of platforms that shape how audiences find, consume, and pay for content.

4 min read

Cover image for The renewed value of maximalism in the era of AI

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