Blog: live music

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.

IMS electronic music business report 2025/6

Mark Mulligan

22 Apr 2026

Cultural trends Fandom Music

It’s that time of year again for the definitive annual assessment of the global electronic music market: The IMS electronic music business report . Premiered at the annual IMS conference in Ibiza, this year’s report paints the picture of a healthy industry with thriving scenes but also a few war...

Cover image for IMS electronic music business report 2025/6

The Boiler Room reckoning: Why scapegoating won’t fix live music’s funding problem

Laura Fisher

24 Mar 2026

Cultural trends Music live

There has been a lot of scrutiny recently about how dance music is funded. Two cases in point illustrate why. Boiler Room, the influential livestreaming platform, was acquired by DICE in 2021, then sold to Superstruct, a private equity-backed entity, in January 2025.

Cover image for The Boiler Room reckoning: Why scapegoating won’t fix live music’s funding problem

IMS Business Report 2025

Mark Mulligan

23 Apr 2025

Spotify YouTube Facebook

Today I presented the 11th edition of the IMS Business Report at the ever-brilliant annual electronic music industry conference in Ibiza. And who doesn’t like a conference in Ibiza?! The full report is available via the IMS website.

Cover image for IMS Business Report 2025

Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences

Olivia Jones

12 Feb 2025

Fandom Spotify Streaming

Much of the recent discussion around music superfan monetisation has focused on online superfans, especially as more superstars join fan platforms like Weverse. These monetisation strategies capitalise on fans’ growing desire for artist-fan interaction but often rely on artists’ active participa...

Cover image for Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences

Music publishing forecasts: strong growth and more to come

Mark Mulligan

15 Aug 2024

Music publishing songwriters publishing forecasts

Following hot on the heels of our future of songwriting report , MIDiA is pleased to announce the release of our latest music publishing forecasts report . Here are some highlights. Thus far, the 2020s have been a good decade for the music publishing industry.

Cover image for Music publishing forecasts: strong growth and more to come

There are no elite artists without elite artist development

Kriss Thakrar

24 Oct 2023

artist development Creators Creator economy

A recent interview with Mariah the Scientist saw her speak about the struggle of performing for only the second time in front of a crowd at one of the world’s biggest festivals, Rolling Loud. She shared that she “wasn’t good at it”, “did not know what she was doing”, and ultimately suffe...

Cover image for There are no elite artists without elite artist development

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

Kriss Thakrar

15 Aug 2023

live music hip hop Fandom

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 hop this year.

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

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

Tatiana Cirisano

10 Aug 2023

live music touring beyonce

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 to Stockholm have credited the duo’s respective concerts for boosting local tourism (and temp...

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

How live music will change in the next decade

Tatiana Cirisano

20 Jul 2023

live music touring live audiences

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.

Cover image for How live music will change in the next decade

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

Tatiana Cirisano

29 Jun 2023

Taylor Swift Record labels 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 led up to this moment, with Swift’s songwriting artistry and business savvy high among the...

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

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

Ashleigh Millar

23 Mar 2023

Taylor Swift the 1975 Marketing

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, greatest hits albums were essentially the nail in the coffin for music artists; a struggling attemp...

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

Hybrid live streaming provides new opportunities to build authentic global fanbases

Srishti Das

22 Mar 2023

live music hybrid live streaming 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 million views on YouTube, helping to introduce his music to a wider audience, generating significan...

How touring pits artists against their own fans

Tatiana Cirisano

6 Dec 2022

live music touring pandemic

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 for skyrocketing ticket prices.

Cover image for How touring pits artists against their own fans

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

Samuel Griffin

10 Aug 2022

Proms Gaming Fandom

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 for Battlefield 2042 .

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

How (and why) Billie Eilish won Glastonbury

Mark Mulligan

6 Jul 2022

live music fragmented fandom BBC

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 and TikTok now established as a cornerstone of the music business.

Music industry earnings 2021: Riding the wave

Mark Mulligan

6 May 2022

Streaming Music Record labels live 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 year earlier.

Cover image for Music industry earnings 2021: Riding the wave

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

Tatiana Cirisano

27 Apr 2022

live music live nation touring

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 headlines paint a different picture: Little Simz canceled her tour because it was not financiall...

Live streaming’s second growth phase

Mark Mulligan

6 Oct 2021

live streaming 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 with tens of thousands of viewers.

Cover image for Live streaming’s second growth phase

Live streaming centre stage for 2021

Keith Jopling

2 Nov 2020

live streaming live music 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, but there it is.

Cover image for Live streaming centre stage for 2021

The Future of Live

Mark Mulligan

20 May 2020

Fortnite Games live

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 radius too as the gaping hole left in most artists’ income is causing them to question their othe...

Cover image for The Future of Live

© 2026 MIDiA Research Ltd. All Rights Reserved.