live music blog by MIDiA Research

Blog: live music

Read our latest daily deep-dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the digital entertainment world. Check out your favourite analyst, or search by coverage – games, video, music, audio, media & marketing, or critical developments for all.

Don’t be fooled by the streams that it’s got, it’s still hip hop from the block

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Blog post by Kriss Thakrar

15 Aug 2023

Over its 50 years, hip hop has gone from a block party in the Bronx to a conquering global culture. It now accounts for almost a quarter of Spotify streams , with three-quarters of users listening to hip...

Can Swift and Beyoncé save the economy? What the data says about music tourism

Cover image for Can Swift and Beyoncé save the economy? What the data says about music tourism

Blog post by Tatiana Cirisano

10 Aug 2023

Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have more accolades than most artists in history. Now they can add “saving the economy” to the list — well, sort of. Governing bodies in cities from Chicago to Philadelphia...

How live music will change in the next decade

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Blog post by Tatiana Cirisano

20 Jul 2023

The pandemic sent shock waves through the live music industry — a historic, catastrophic disruption to a decades-old business. But just because touring is back, does not mean that we are in the clear....

Right place, right time: Taylor Swift's track to the first $1 billion tour

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Blog post by Tatiana Cirisano

29 Jun 2023

music marketing

Another day, another record for Taylor Swift. As Wall Street Journal broke down this week, the superstar is now on track to achieve the first $1 billion tour in music history. A billion factors and decisions...

Swift and Healy set the tone for live music in the 2020s

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Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

23 Mar 2023

When P!nk released her Greatest Hits…So Far! album back in 2010, radio show presenters were quick to respond by discussing what they believed would become the death of her career. According to them,...

Hybrid live streaming provides new opportunities to build authentic global fanbases

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Blog post by Srishti Das

22 Mar 2023

hybrid live streaming

July 2022 saw Boiler Room’s hands in one of the most iconic dance music / pop culture crossovers that led to the era of “Fred againia”. Fred again..’s Boiler Room set has (so far) garnered 16...

How touring pits artists against their own fans

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Blog post by Tatiana Cirisano

6 Dec 2022

The live music industry is now facing the reckoning we predicted last spring, as it is increasingly clear that touring is not financially sustainable for most artists, while superstars are facing backlash...

From 8-bit to fantasy: Proms’ focus on gaming underscores its cultural relevance

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Blog post by Sam Griffin

10 Aug 2022

After the humble beginnings of the first melodic loops from NAMCO’s Rally X , the cultural symphony of music, video, and games has since matured toHildur Guðnadóttir and Sam Slater’s recent score...

How (and why) Billie Eilish won Glastonbury

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Blog post by Mark Mulligan

6 Jul 2022

fragmented fandom

Glastonbury returned to great fanfare after the pandemic-enforced break, which meant it was the first one since 2019. The music world has changed a lot since then, with streaming getting bigger than ever...

Music industry earnings 2021: Riding the wave

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Blog post by Mark Mulligan

6 May 2022

Streaming Music

Universal music’s Q1 2022 earnings showed continued growth but a noticeable slowdown in streaming growth, with streaming revenues up 12% year-on-year (YoY) in USD term compared to a growth of 35% one...

The pandemic catalysed a streaming business model reckoning. Is the live sector next?

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Blog post by Tatiana Cirisano

27 Apr 2022

The news is everywhere: concerts are back. Coachella heralded the return of a roaring festival season, hundreds of acts are back on the road, and Live Nation says it is expecting a record year. But other...

Live streaming’s second growth phase

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Blog post by Mark Mulligan

6 Oct 2021

live streamed concerts

virtual concerts

Live streaming erupted in 2020 in the wake of the pandemic. As the year progressed, the market transformed rapidly from a bunch of bands playing guitar in their bedrooms to highly produced, ticketed shows...

Live streaming centre stage for 2021

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Blog post by Keith Jopling

2 Nov 2020

Live music industry

The longer the pandemic continues, the harder it gets for the live music business (and other cultural sectors built around live performance) to sustain hope of a ‘return to normal’. I hate saying it,...

The Future of Live

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Blog post by Mark Mulligan

20 May 2020

The almost total cessation of live music has sent shockwaves throughout the wider music industry. Though live companies are clearly at the epicentre, labels and streaming services are the in the blast...

How Will Finance’s Interest in Music Impact the Industry Compared to Big Tech?

Blog post by Zach Fuller

16 Dec 2019

With Hipgnosis continuing to acquire copyright, coupled with Warner Music Group and Providence Equity’s announcement of Tempo Music Investments, the finance industry’s interest in the recorded music...

The Future of Music: A Vision of Post-Format

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Blog post by Mark Mulligan

18 Sep 2019

Formats have shaped and dictated the evolution of recorded music. The constraints that formats set have, in turn, become the creative frameworks within which music has operated. Now, in the internet era,...

Data Says: E-sports Events Are More About Live Entertainment than Gaming

Blog post by Karol Severin

8 Aug 2019

brand activation

Imagine you’ve got three behaviourally defined consumer segments: PC Gamers Console Gamers Live concert goers Which group is most likely to attend an e-sports event? Intuitively, it has to be Gamers,...

Profiling the Live Consumer: Streaming and the Live Music Business

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

17 Apr 2019

Experience economy

festival market

This article is derived from MIDiA’s Profiling the Live Consumer report, available to subscribers here . For more information about this report, email stephen@midiaresearch.com . The power balance in...

Do Not Assume We Have Arrived At Our Destination

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

15 Jun 2017

Forbes has released its annual Celebrity 100, its list of the top earning media stars. The healthy share of music artists hints at the continued ability to build highly successful music careers. The presence...

Amazon Prime Live Events, More Than Just Gigs For Olds

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

9 May 2017

Amazon Prime Live Events

Amazon today announced ‘Amazon Prime Live Events’, a series of smaller capacity gigs by largely heritage acts made available exclusively to Amazon Prime members in the UK. The first wave of artists...