Blog: Spotify

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.

The music industry’s personalisation paradox

Tatiana Cirisano

28 May 2026

music industry Music Music fandom

Music streaming, like most other digital entertainment types, has never been more personal. Every listener is now super-served their own algorithmically-generated world of personalised playlists, AI DJs, and hyper-specific recommendations.

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Answering questions from MIDiA’s "The State of AI and Music" webinar

Olivia Jones

7 May 2026

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

Last week, MIDiA’s public webinar “The State of AI and Music” explored AI’s role in reshaping consumption, creation, and value in the music industry. For those who were unable to attend, a recording of the webinar is available here .

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Multi-dimensionality in music isn’t new – but it’s overdue for a comeback

Olivia Jones

23 Apr 2026

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

Multi-dimensionality in music – that is, engaging in ways beyond simply listening to a song – has existed for decades. In the vinyl era, fans could read liner notes and look at album artwork while listening.

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Overanalysing our 2025 Spotify Wrapped: what MIDiA’s stats say about the industry

Tatiana Cirisano

11 Dec 2025

Fandom Spotify Streaming

Nothing signifies the holiday season like snowy days, Christmas jingles – and for many of us, Spotify Wrapped. The streaming platform’s annual listenership stats are back, and so is MIDiA’s tradition of over-analysing them.

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Some artists are leaving Spotify (again). Here’s what’s different now

Tatiana Cirisano

7 Aug 2025

Product Strategy Spotify Streaming

Over the past few weeks, a growing list of indie bands have decided to leave Spotify, the most prominent being Deerhoof and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (a partial list has been compiled by Fader ).

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What will audiobook market growth look like?

Laura Fisher

24 Apr 2025

Spotify Audio Discovery

Key takeaways from this blog: Audiobooks are evolving into something far more than just a listening experience With its integration into the wellness sphere and innovations in immersive audio, the medium is carving out new paths MIDiA examines the evolution of audiobooks and the possibilities ahead ...

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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.

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The medium is no longer the message – the messenger is now, too

Rutger Rosenborg

4 Apr 2025

Podcasts Audio Spotify

Key takeaways from this blog: Podcasts now rival traditional media in influence, especially around current events, thanks to their strong personalities, flexibility, and direct audience engagement The success of top podcasts is driven by hosts, not media networks — charisma, connection, and commen...

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

Tatiana Cirisano

3 Apr 2025

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

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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Music subscriber market shares 2024: Slowdown? What slowdown?

Mark Mulligan

27 Mar 2025

Business Strategy Spotify YouTube

Record label streaming revenue growth slowed to 6% in 2024 but there was no such slowdown in subscriber growth. In our just published ‘ Music subscriber market shares Q4 2024 ’ report, we reveal that the 85 million net* new subscribers added in 2024 was only two million less than in 2023, result...

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With “short-form audiobooks”, Spotify has become an independent book publisher

Rutger Rosenborg

19 Mar 2025

Product Strategy Spotify Audio

On the heels of Spotify’s embrace of AI-generated audiobooks through their partnership with ElevenLabs, the streaming giant is looking to further democratise and monetise audiobooks. On March 13, Spotify’s For the Record blog announced a new publishing program aimed at independent authors publis...

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A model for a new music streaming industry

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2025

Business Strategy Spotify YouTube

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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Podcasting has finally become profitable, but question marks remain

Rutger Rosenborg

5 Mar 2025

Product Strategy Spotify YouTube

Throughout 2023 and into 2024, you might have thought the sky was falling for podcasting. Layoffs and show cancellations had many in the industry wondering if there would be any financial future for the format.

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

Tatiana Cirisano

27 Feb 2025

Audience Insight Spotify Facebook

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 s...

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Spotify’s embrace of AI-generated audio is a blessing and curse for authors

Rutger Rosenborg

26 Feb 2025

Product Strategy Spotify Audio

As we covered in August 2024, the future of AI-generated audiobooks is here. Up until this month, however, streaming platforms themselves had yet to fully embrace AI audiobook narration. Now, Spotify has announced their support for ElevenLabs ’ AI-generated audiobook content, paving the way for en...

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How streaming platforms are adapting in the race for affordable content

Rutger Rosenborg

19 Feb 2025

Business Strategy Spotify YouTube

Music is expensive – not for consumers, but for companies who have to license music copyrights from rightsholders. It is a large reason Spotify did not have a full year of profitability until 2024 . What helped the company get there? Podcasting.

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The audio listener is too valuable for the music industry to ignore

Rutger Rosenborg

13 Feb 2025

Fandom Spotify US

On the heels of positive Q4 2024 financials for Spotify , the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has not lost a step in holding the company accountable for what it sees as unauthorised music usage.

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Why Spotify only hit profitability now (but will do so again)

Mark Mulligan

13 Feb 2025

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

Spotify finally registered its first profitable year in 2024. It has hit net profit in individual quarters before – most recently in Q3 2023 – but this is the first year it was profitable throughout the year.

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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...

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The unflattening of music

Mark Mulligan

30 Jan 2025

Cultural trends Spotify TikTok

[This post builds on two other recent MIDiA posts: Background music and What got you here ] At the half way point of the decade it is a good time to reflect on how the business of music is reshaping the culture of music – and where this is heading.

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