Blog: Music streaming

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.

Music discovery is not dead, just evolving – the industry needs to evolve with it

Cover image for Music discovery is not dead, just evolving – the industry needs to evolve with it

Olivia Jones

9 May 2025

Audience Insight

Music streaming

Music streaming algorithms have changed the way we listen to music – for better and for worse. While the radio used to be the main way to find new music, streaming and social algorithms now drive discovery as listeners crave (and have come to expect) more personalised recommendations.

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The music industry wants solutions. But do listeners see problems?

Cover image for The music industry wants solutions. But do listeners see problems?

Tatiana Cirisano

17 Apr 2025

Business Strategy

Music streaming

Key takeways from this blog: The music industry’s next phase of growth depends on solving real problems faced by multiple stakeholders – not just one group in isolation Areas like live music demand, fan engagement, and discovery offer clues about where meaningful overlaps might exist MIDiA spotlights potential solutions that could create value for artists, listeners, labels, and platforms alike History is full of examples of products that failed because they were "solutions without a problem”.

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We pinpointed the right price for Super Premium. Here is how

Cover image for We pinpointed the right price for Super Premium. Here is how

Tatiana Cirisano

8 Apr 2025

Business Strategy

Music streaming

There is broad consensus across the music industry that it is time to introduce new tiers for streaming, including one with extra benefits that is often nicknamed “Super Premium”, or “Supremium” for short.

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Is streaming music's final form? And if not, what's next?

Cover image for Is streaming music's final form? And if not, what's next?

Tatiana Cirisano

3 Apr 2025

Business Strategy

Key takeaways from this blog: Music is not stuck – it is shifting. Fans now engage through remixes, memes, and behind-the-scenes content, not just through streaming Streaming is losing cultural ground.

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A model for a new music streaming industry

Cover image for A model for a new music streaming industry

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

The music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0 , artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue hitting $4.

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How the DNA of a hit changed in the last five years

Cover image for How the DNA of a hit changed in the last five years

Olivia Jones

14 Mar 2025

Cultural trends

Music streaming

Key insights from this blog: The second installment of MIDiA's "DNA of a hit" blog series looks at how the hits on Billboard's Top 10 chart have changed in the last five years Key MIDiA data highlights the struggles for songwriters and the importance of YouTube for music consumption We predict that the charts in 2030 will reflect the increasing fragmentation of consumer behaviour Almost five years ago, MIDiA published “How the DNA of a hit has changed over 20 years” , examining structural differences between the Billboard Top 10 tracks of July 2000 and July 2020.

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Recorded music market 2024: $36.2 billion, up 6.5%

Cover image for Recorded music market 2024: $36.2 billion, up 6.5%

Mark Mulligan

13 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

MIDiA has just released its annual recorded music market shares report. Clients can access the full report and the accompanying massive (!) data set here . For the rest of you, here are some highlights from the report.

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Social came for music streaming’s lunch – now is the time for streaming to bite back

Cover image for Social came for music streaming’s lunch – now is the time for streaming to bite back

Tatiana Cirisano

27 Feb 2025

Audience Insight

In the battle of music streaming versus social, the major (at least Western) music streaming services have never fully committed to implementing social features. Spotify has come the closest: an early version offered direct messaging, and the company even acquired a handful of social media-related startups in 2016.

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Bootlegging is the scourge of many industries. Could it be music’s greatest strength?

Cover image for Bootlegging is the scourge of many industries. Could it be music’s greatest strength?

Tatiana Cirisano

7 Feb 2025

The word “bootleg” has long left a bad taste in brands’ mouths. Quite literally defined as “illicit goods,” these unauthorised versions or replications of clothes, handbags, concert tees, and other items have long plagued brands.

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Brazil climbs the global top 10: a new era for the music market

Cover image for Brazil climbs the global top 10: a new era for the music market

Leo Morel

3 Oct 2024

brazil music market

Music streaming

In recent years, Brazil’s music market has transformed, echoing the nation’s broader economic and cultural dynamics. After facing a severe economic crisis that began in 2017, Brazil is now experiencing a resurgence which has propelled it to the ninth largest global economy, according to the International Monetary Fund , overtaking nations like Canada, Spain, and Mexico.

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Brasil ingressa no top 10 global: uma nova era para o mercado brasileiro de música

Cover image for Brasil ingressa no top 10 global: uma nova era para o mercado brasileiro de música

Leo Morel

3 Oct 2024

brazil music market

Music streaming

O mercado musical brasileiro se desenvolveu significativamente nos últimos anos em decorrência de uma ampla dinâmica econômica, cultural e tecnológica no país. Depois de enfrentar uma grave crise econômica que começou em 2017, o Brasil agora está retornando ao crescimento, com um produto interno bruto de US$2,13 trilhões em 2023, de acordo com o Fundo Monetário Internacional .

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AI podcasts: Google’s NotebookLM will disrupt — not destroy — podcasting

Cover image for AI podcasts: Google’s NotebookLM will disrupt — not destroy — podcasting

Rutger Rosenborg

2 Oct 2024

On the heels of a North Carolina man being indicted for music streaming fraud, questions about AI and audio — especially as it pertains to intellectual property (IP) rights — continue to swirl. Now, Google's new NotebookLM and its "audio overview" feature are raising questions for audiobook and podcast creators.

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Will more artists release full songs to social media in 2025?

Cover image for Will more artists release full songs to social media in 2025?

Tatiana Cirisano

19 Sep 2024

Music streaming

It is now a standard part of most music rollouts to release a clip of the song on social video platforms before it hits streaming. This makes sense when you think of social media as a marketing tool. But as social video has ascended (and arguably become more about entertainment than connecting socially), apps like TikTok are now quasi-consumption platforms in their own right.

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Q2 2024 music market metrics: bifurcation is here

Cover image for Q2 2024 music market metrics: bifurcation is here

Mark Mulligan

19 Sep 2024

Music streaming

There are so many music industry metrics and financial results flying around these days that it can be difficult to keep up with them all. Don’t worry, we’ve got you. MIDiA has just published the first edition of a brand-new report series: quarterly music metrics.

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Streaming’s growth plan in the connection economy

Cover image for Streaming’s growth plan in the connection economy

Kriss Thakrar

18 Sep 2024

Music streaming

Streaming clubs

During Universal’s Capital Markets Day, Universal Music Group (UMG) chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge cited some “fundamental facts” of the music business (per Music Business Worldwide ). These include the promise that “streaming will continue to propel many years of industry growth”.

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‘Song of the summer’ may be dead, but 2024 was the summer of song

Cover image for ‘Song of the summer’ may be dead, but 2024 was the summer of song

Tatiana Cirisano

22 Aug 2024

fragmented fandom

Music streaming

Over the past few years, MIDiA has often remarked at the lack of a “song of the summer” . There was once a singular undeniable hit each summer, one that everyone could agree on, like ‘One Dance’ was to 2016 or ‘Despacito’ to 2017.

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Songwriters take the stage: a new playbook for a new era

Cover image for Songwriters take the stage: a new playbook for a new era

Tatiana Cirisano

31 Jul 2024

songwriting income

Music publishing

In the 2021 report, “ Rebalancing the song economy ”, MIDiA introduced the idea of songs as mini industries. In the streaming era, songs are constantly revived and reimagined — and so long as you own the publishing, it does not matter if the version that becomes popular is the original, a cover, or an interpolation.

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How DistroKid can leverage its podcast partnership to help artists tell their stories

Cover image for How DistroKid can leverage its podcast partnership to help artists tell their stories

Rutger Rosenborg

27 Jun 2024

music distribution

On the heels of MIDiA’s report “ Defining podcast taste: The universal appeal of music, news, and comedy ”, podcast network Evergreen Podcasts and independent music distributor DistroKid announced a sponsorship deal.

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The verdict is in: Music is podcasting’s biggest missed opportunity

Cover image for The verdict is in: Music is podcasting’s biggest missed opportunity

Rutger Rosenborg

19 Jun 2024

While there are plenty of charts that provide insight into the most downloaded podcasts on each platform globally, these data give a very granular perspective on consumer preferences. Podcast platforms, in turn, have access to private user data, but again these data are largely limited to each platform’s own users.

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The countdown begins for audiobooks on Spotify

Cover image for The countdown begins for audiobooks on Spotify

Rutger Rosenborg

23 May 2024

Music publishing

As Spotify rolls out music-like features for audiobooks, the company still finds itself at odds with the music business, courting one publishing industry while ruffling the feathers of another. So far, Spotify’s publisher dilemma is only intensifying, making it all the more interesting that the company is introducing audiobook countdown pages — effectively album pre-saves but for audiobooks — in the midst of it all.

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