Samsung just announced a forecast 25% profit drop in Q2 2014 results with softening smartphone sales the key culprit. Samsung is learning the same hard lesson that Nokia did: that the smartphone game is the most volatile mainstream consumer electronics sector in the global market and that without a services play today’s hit can be tomorrow’s flop.

Today we published our global music forecasts. MIDiA Research clients can get immediate access to the report, entire data set and full presentation. To find out more about how to become a MIDiA Research client click here.

We are at critical juncture in the evolution of digital content. Digital consumption of content, spurred by accelerating adoption of smartphones and tablets, is crashing towards the mainstream, while traditional revenues and business models continue to buckle under the strain.

Although the Apple-Beats deal is about far more than just streaming music, it is nonetheless an important part of the puzzle. Apple has been going slow with streaming, introducing cloud experiences (iCloud, iTunes Match, iTunes Radio, Video rentals) slowly so as not to alienate its less tech-adventurous mainstream user base.

Spotify today announced that it had hit its much anticipated milestone of 10 million premium subscribers. Make no mistake this is a highly significant achievement for Spotify itself and for the broader digital marketplace.

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